


Cohabitation

by lostundersea



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Kinda, Roommates, Slow Burn, domestic rio, romcom, sometimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:54:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24089995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostundersea/pseuds/lostundersea
Summary: "You want a favor?" Val questioned, her voice dripped with incredibility as she crossed her arms. His lips raised in a slight smile as he turned back to face her."Ain' no such thing as a free lunch," His gaze seared her body one last time before heading out the door.
Relationships: Rio (Good Girls)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this will ~kinda~ follow the tv show, most of it will be it's own story. mainly i wanted to read a cute domestic rio fic and thought i would just write one instead.

The plastic grocery bags dug into Val's forearms and she groaned, closing the trunk of her car. Carrying too much definitely made this a feat, but she was determined to make one trip. She was lugging everything up the stairs of her apartment when she noticed the wet foot prints on the cement leading to her door. 

Her brows furrowed as she contemplated that it could either be Charlie, the maintenance man, or a neighbor? Seeing as she didn't know the name of a single one of her neighbors, she negated the latter possibility. Shrugging with a frown, Val shoved her hand into the small purse for her keys.

As she stuck her key in the lock she paused, and a nagging feeling crept over her. If Charlie had come by he would have left a maintenance slip on her welcome mat, Val's eyes slowly slid to the paper-less mat below her feet. She glanced back at the door and took a deep breath. Not knowing what she was about to see kicked her heart into overdrive, she gently twisted the knob.

The door groaned as it softly grazed her floor, she took one step in and looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, it even smelled the same too. Walking towards the kitchen she warily looked around corners, not even sure what to be searching for. Val's legs carried her to the kitchen counter before her eyes caught sight of it––a maintenance slip. She let go of the breath she was holding in and a laugh bubbled out of her mouth at her own paranoia. 

"What's so funny?" A deep voice spoke from behind her, she slowly turned to find a tall man leaning against the wall of her dining room. He was clad in black––black skinny jeans, black boots, and a black bomber jacket that his hands rested in. Her eyes landed on his shallow brown ones, and when thinking back to this moment, she would remember how deadly his gaze was. 

Her eyes dipped below to his neck where a black bird was inked, and she thought that it complemented his tan skin well. She noticed his mouth curve up into a smirk and her eyes zipped back to his, embarrassed that she had been caught staring. 

"Well? You gonna share with the rest of the class?" His hand waved towards the two unnervingly and equally tattooed men seated on her couch, they came to stand near him. 

"Well if I knew I was having company I would have bought more to make for dinner," She said more quietly than she would have normally done, but she was sure at least one of them had a gun, if not all. Her arms started to feel sore and she realized she hadn't set the groceries down. The adrenaline from having three absolute strangers in her apartment was wearing off as her fear took its place, he let out a small laugh.

"Oh, sorry, we're bein' rude. Let's help you with that," He said condescendingly, yet didn't move an inch as the two burly men stepped forward. They slid the bags down her arms and she was stuck, paralyzed with fear as he silently scrutinized her. His gaze slid down her body at an excruciatingly slow pace, drinking her in––savoring her. She could hear them putting her groceries in the kitchen and the bird-tattooed man tilted his head, as if she were the one in his apartment.

"Who are you and what do you want?" She said, shocked that her voice sounded so much stronger, if they wanted her dead they would have done so already. The fear gradually left her body as she kept eye contact with him. He straightened up and started to walk towards her, stopping a mere 3 feet away.

"Oh relax, sweetheart. I just wanted us to meet up so that we could all have-" His hands pushed his pockets out slightly as he looked around the room before settling his gaze back on her.

"A little talk," He finished, his eyes are set to intimidate as her's narrowed in confusion. What does a gang need to talk to her about? 

"About what?" Her thoughts raced as she tried to figure it out whether she should really be worried at this point. Did any of her neighbors see him enter her apartment? She took a deep breath and waited impatiently for him to respond. He gave her a slight grin, and raised his eyebrows in amusement.

"Oh about the money you stole from us," His bottom lip juts out and they stand in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

With his hands in his front jacket pockets, the look on the tattooed man's face was bored with a small side of amusement. Val looked back and wondered if this was some sort of joke or just a big misunderstanding. Money? When she realized that he wasn't going to clarify any further, she pushed him.

"Money? What? You think—you think that I stole money from you?" She stuttered her way through the response, more out of confusion and disbelief than fear. If he came to collect, she figured it must be a large amount, which still didn't make sense. If she had stolen a chunk of his money, wouldn't she be in a nicer apartment? Or be driving a better car?

"Guess I should'a specified, darlin'. Meant my product," He didn't seem to be joking, almost looked even more bored than earlier, but then Val couldn't help but smile. This really was a misunderstanding, a miscommunication of someone, somewhere, and she's not even sure how they roped her into it all.

"Don't make me laugh, your product? Does it look like I go around stealing and sampling someone's product? I work at a Pre-K for Christ sake," She huffed out a laugh, and settled one hand on her hip.

The man sighed and pulled his hands out of his pocket before he folded them in front. One glance at his boys and they walked back in and stood guard in front of the door menacingly.

"Look, I'on wanna have to do somethin' drastic. So how about you try bein' honest with me, yeah?" Val looked at the two men at the door once, to see if their face gave anything away, and her eyes swiveled back to him. She cleared her throat and crossed her arms, they couldn't scare her because she didn't have anything.

"I am being honest. I don't have anything, look anywhere you want." She clipped out, with an eyebrow raised high. He wasted no time and took another step forward, in turn forcing her to take a step back as well.

"I'on have to look," He said as he crossed his arms, her eyes momentarily drawn to the muscle of his arm that was outlined through his jacket. She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and softly chewed, not understanding what he meant.

"And why is that?" She carefully asked, and thought about taking another step away from him but felt the counter dig into her back. His own eyes fixated on the lip in her mouth and she slowly let it slide out.

"'Cuz, Valentina, that old as hell Honda is sittin' right ou'side, plain as day." He gave her a full smile, and her heart palpitated for two reasons. One—he knew her name, her full name, and two—why did a gang member need to be that attractive?

"What does my car have to do with this?" Annoyance had replaced any other emotion she currently felt. She had gotten off a long shift, with toddlers no less, and needed alcohol and TV to binge watch. Val watched as he pursed his lips, how could this be irritating him?

"Y'mean my car, mine. You stole my product, and I wan' it back." His voice reached gravel level once again, and she pretended it did nothing to her. Val was more focused on the irrationality of the entire situation.

"I'm not in High School anymore, I don't go around stealing cars," His eyebrows raised at that statement, and she mentally scolded herself for spilling the tidbit. That was another story for another time that did not include a gang in her living room.

"I'm serious, I didn't steal anything! And I paid fair and square for that car, so take it up with the idiot who sold it." She pulled out her phone and scrolled until she found the right contact—Dean Boland (Boland Motors). Val faced her phone towards the man and his eyes flitted down to read it before they found hers.

"Look, I'on care about some dumbass car man. I'm here for my product, and I'm gon' get it right quick, too." She noticed halfway through his response that his hand was reaching behind his back. He pulled something out from below his shirt and if the severity of the situation wasn't clear before, it was now. A gun settled against Val's head, the golden stock glimmering in the sunlight that beamed from her living room.

"I'm not giving you my car," She stated firmly, her voice unwavering under the gleam of metal. His eyes narrowed and he almost smirked, almost, before he peered back at his boys with a shrug.

"Mamí, you know wha' I'm holdin'?" He murmured, he was toe to toe with her, and the barrel lightly brushed against her forehead for effect.

"Unless you're going to give me ten grand for it, you're not taking the car." What he didn't know is that she had actually paid nine thousand for it, but that's a small white lie. Also, guns didn't scare her, she grimly thought.

"Bitch, y'think I care 'bout the car? I wan' what's innit," He said through gritted teeth, the gun pressed tighter to her head. She rolled her eyes, confused as to what all of this drama was about, if not about the car in question.

"If you don't want the car then why are you here griping about the car?" She motioned around the room, at the gun and the terrifying men, before tangling in her brown hair. Val was frustrated, she didn't have anything of his besides the car, or "product" should she say, wait a minute—

"Oh my god, what the hell is in my car?" She spit out through her clenched jaw, her hands fell quietly to her sides. God, she had known that man was shady as hell when he had given this car for a few thousand less than what she should have paid for it. She would buy a car full of illicit drugs, how fitting.

"Was startin' t'think you were dense," The cold barrel retreated from her head once he realized she wasn't feigning innocence. A laugh left his mouth when he waltzed over to his men as they mumbled something in Spanish that she didn't catch. Val took a deep breath and brushed dirt that didn't exist off of her front as they spoke.

"Glad I can impress a gang member with my intelligence," She rolled her eyes, letting her mind wander back over to the fact that she had been smuggling drugs in a stolen car around town for a month. Val zoned out for a split second before the tall man was inches from her, gun in his right, and his left hand held his wrist. The deranged half smile that adorned his face made the hair on the back of her neck rise.

"Boss," He said, the amusement in his voice was overly apparent.

"What?" She could smell his cologne and noticed the gold specks in his eyes. He stood so close that when she sighed, a lock of her long hair threatened to graze his cheek.

"This—" Gestured to his bird tattoo, "Means I'm a gang member," She jerked her head in a nod, not quite grasping at what he was attempting to imply. His voice dropped low again as he held up the golden gun.

"This means I'm the Boss," Val's brown eyes peered back at her through the reflection in his hand. She breathed heavily as hot strip of fear rolled through her body.

"Please don't kill me," Why else would a gang "boss" have made a house visit if not to kill her, she wondered. They could make it look so easy, she didn't live in the nicest area or in the nicest apartment. There had already been one reported break-in this year in her unit. Val knew gang leaders were too busy to be wasting time collecting petty cash—they had members specifically for that.

"I'm nah killin' nobody as long as you listen," Nodding frantically, she held up her car keys in front of him. His eyes traveled from hers to the hovering hand and for a second she thought he looked sympathetic.

"No car is worth my life," Val stated somberly, maybe she could Uber everywhere for a year and scrounge up some savings. She grew tired at the mere thought of the extra hours that would be needed.

"How 'bout this, we make a deal." He said as he returned the gun to his waistband, she saw a strip of his taut stomach in the process. Eyes searched his face once more as his brows furrowed, he chewed on a thought. He took a small step back, his hand went to scratch the stubble on his chin as he thought.

"'Kay, so here's wha's gonna happen. I take m'product today," Waiting for her response, and taking her silence as a cue to continue, he finished his thought.

"Guess I could forget 'bout the car this time," A shrug and a wink from him later and her lungs started to work again. Suspicion rose in her, if the car was legitimately his, wouldn't he take it back?

"Why would you do that for me if it's 'rightfully' yours?" This gang leader had no reason to be sympathetic towards her, no matter how much she had wanted him to be.

"Le's call it a quid-pro-quo," His hands gestured as he spoke, her eyes followed the rings on his fingers. She refocused before he could notice her trailing gaze on his fingers of all things.

"So," A pause, what did he mean quid-pro-quo, she seriously doubted he was the type of person to let this slide. Otherwise, what had this drop-by been about in the first place, she thought.

"So, like, you'll take the 'product' and leave me the car with no strings attached?"

There was no way he was serious, it wasn't smart to leave behind loose ends. She's seen people get killed for a lot less, Val expected more from a gang leader.

"Hey now, didn' say that. Just mean maybe you can help me out wit' somethin' sometime," A dark gleam in his stare made her blush as he looked over her body once more. He smiled at her reaction and motioned to his men to open the door.

"You want a favor?" Val questioned, her voice dripped with incredibility and she crossed her arms. He raised his lips in a slight smile as he turned back to face her.

"Ain' no such thing as a free lunch," His gaze seared her body one last time before he started for the door.

Before she can stop herself, she blurts out the one question that deemed itself more important than the other actual important ones. I.E.—can I have my keys back? What type of favor? Or—how did your car full of drugs end up in some second-rate dealership? How about—how will you get back into contact with me? Or maybe her favorite, she was psychotic to even want an answer—do you have more tattoos?

"What's your name?" He faced her, looking surprised for a moment before his bottom lip jutted out as he took the time to consider her request. She grew nervous again and pulled her bottom lip into her mouth to anxiously bite on. His eyes clocked the movement and he licked his lips in response. Half-lidded eyes slowly burned their way back up and she swallows.

"Rio," His voice was smoldering, and Val was almost too distracted to notice her keys soaring through the air. Her hand darts out and clasped around the key chain just as her front door firmly closed behind them.


	3. Chapter 3

To say that Val was shocked would be the understatement of the century, what the hell had just happened? Had she really been accosted by a _gang_? She raised her arms above her head and folder her hands to take a deep breath.

Val swiveled around to inspect where he had stood, thoughts of his eagle tattoo rolled around in her head. The whole occurrence had hit a little bit too close to home for her, she was now breathing too fast. She ran to the bathroom as her previous meal threatened to lurch from her stomach.

********

Weeks strolled passed and the memory of Rio was slipping through her fingers like sand. She went about her normal schedule—work, online school, and home, most days. The weather was progressively getting colder as October neared it's end, and Val was bundled up as she walked in the store.

 _"Halloween Day Special—all candy is 15% off , today only!"_ The intercom blared as she meandered over to the candy. Briefly contemplating being the worst type of person who buys healthy snacks to hand out, she laughed and instead grabbed the fan favorites. Her hand ran over the red licorice twists and she stopped cold. A distant memory prodded at her until she remembered it— _his_ calling card. She promptly shoved the memory back, retreating to the checkout counter.

Val recognized the anxiety and immediately began her breathing exercises for anxiety management. Inhale for four counts, pause for four counts, exhale for four counts. She continued this until it was time to pay for her items. The anxiety can _not_ be coming back, she helplessly thought. It had been a good few years without any major inklings of an anxiety attack, and she hoped that the gang visit hadn't triggered it.

********

_RAP RAP RAP_

Val turned her head from the horror movie that currently played to whoever was at the door. She thought that the sign 'take one' was self explanatory. A sigh later and she had opened her door, expecting to see an angry child with an empty candy bowl.

Instead, it's a man with a damn convincing gunshot wound to the shoulder, she found herself impressed. He was tall and wore a white shirt over his black skinny jeans and boots. The fake blood had seeped deeply throughout his top and his tan skin looked pale. With a laugh she let her gaze travel up his neck and the laugh died in her throat at the sight of an eagle tattoo.

"Ay, ma," Rio wore a smirk even with the slight blood and the bruising his face wore. Despite the fact that her brain had registered the gunshot wound as real, her heart beat steadily. Val had no idea what to do in the moment, was he expecting her to tend to his wounds? Was this the favor that he needed?

"You need medical attention," She said, her eyes finally tore from his to glance at the soaking stain formed on his shirt.

"Yeah, m'pretty sure you owe me a favor, and I need a safe house righ' now." She finally noticed the huge black duffel sitting next to his feet.

"I don't have enough experience for this, you need a doctor. And so, what, you want to stay at my place?" She would not be the reason behind a boss' death due to an infected stitch-up. And there was no way he was staying in her apartment, wouldn't they find him here? Nothing good could come from this. His brown eyes found her worried ones, holding her steady.

"Sounds like you sayin' you have _some_ experience, I ain' goin' to no doctor. And like I said, you owe me a favor, and I'm collectin'." His voice slowly got raspier the more irritated he became. She should be the one irritated, Val thought. She was still deciding on whether or not to let him enter, when he softly pushed her into the apartment to make way for him.

"Where do you want me, mami?" He dropped his bag near the door and stared down at her while her heart skipped at _mami._ Was she a psychopath or what? Val told herself to focus and contemplated the best area for a bleeding man.

"Bathroom, end of the hall on your left," He nodded and slowly walked, letting out a staggering sigh, the only indication that he was feeling any sort of pain.

She followed him into the bathroom and Rio leaned back against the counter. Val pulled out her first aid kit, it had been a long time since she had stitched up anyone. She also grabbed a lighter, which he lifted an eyebrow to, as she lit the candle next to him.

"The smell of blood still makes me sick," She slightly grimaced and hoped he wouldn't catch the implication of that statement.

"Still?" She didn't answer him and luckily enough he didn't question more on the matter. Val needed to be more careful, she can't let things spill so carelessly. A pat to the counter, and he understood her request, hopping up with his non-injured right arm. She stood closely between his legs, feeling his eyes studying her.

"Are you attached to this shirt?" She questioned and softly pinched it between her fingers, planning to cut it off of him. He shook his head silently with his bottom lip between his teeth. She grabbed the scissors and cut from the bottom hem to the collar and down the left sleeve. He helped her pull the shirt away and let her toss it in the trash. Val didn't allow herself to gawk at his muscular upper body, but from the look of his figure she idly wondered if he boxed.

Upon first sight of the wound she noticed that someone bandaged him up slightly, there was a thick pack of gauze taped tightly to his shoulder. It wasn't enough to keep the site from bleeding through the material, he needed stitches. She pulled the tape off slowly, holding pressure with a towel, as she took a closer look.

It was a through and through shot, it had to have torn through muscle, but now she understood why he wasn't too hurried about this. A piece of her was in awe at his pain tolerance, he hadn't shown any inkling to what he was feeling. He needed stitches, but would be relatively okay afterwards, though not sure how long a shot like this would take to heal from.

"You need stitches," She murmured, wiping more blood away. Val caught his nod and took that as consent. He seemed more quiet than usual, then again she didn't _really_ know him, Val thought.

"Wait here," She heard a low hum from him, and she quickly went to grab something from the kitchen. Val returned and Rio laughed as he grabbed the vodka from her, taking a long pull.

"Hey, that's for me too," She said, amused, he wiped at his mouth and handed the bottle back over.

"Thanks," He said, watching her drink from the bottle while wearing a curious expression. Val set the bottle down and pulled out the items she needed. Starting with sterilizing the needle, Rio looked more and more intrigued.

"So, you gotta nursin' degree, or what?" Val mulled over what information to share to him, a.k.a.—the drug lord. She didn't want him poking around her business. Rio hadn't given her his long term plan for this favor she owed him, but she was sure he'd milk it for as long as possible.

"Nope," Maybe keeping it short would show him that she wasn't interested in sharing pieces of her life that wasn't necessary.

"Alrigh', fair enough," He let out a humorless laugh, what, did he expect kindness from her? He brought himself and his work into her home, and the possibility of what could happen if whoever shot him followed him here scared her.

She had cleaned up his wound and picked up the sterilized needle, Rio took a deep breath as she pinched together the skin. As she sewed his shoulder, he observed her with a lip tight in his mouth. Again, she was astounded at his seemingly very high pain threshold, he was completely still and silent.

"How are you doing that?" Val didn't realized she had voiced the one question she couldn't stop dwelling on. Rio pulled his dark eyebrows together and slightly cocked his head to the right.

"Doin' what?" She pierced his skin with the needle again and witnessed his abdomen softly twinge. She grimly smiled at the involuntary reaction from him.

"I was beginning to think you were incapable of feeling pain," Val pulled the strings tight and tied a knot.

"There's a point where I kinda become numb to it, might be jus' the adrenaline. I feel it, but I also know it's not the worst place I been shot. Coulda been a vital organ, lucky it was just my shoulder," This was the longest sentence he's said in her presence so far, she had replayed every single thing he said to her that first day over and over.

"I understand," And she did, compartmentalization was a powerful tool, but the adrenaline must not have worn off of him yet from whatever situation this derived from.

"How's that?" Again, she stayed quiet. He wasn't really in the position to ask questions, she decided and placed the final bandage over his shoulder with tape.

"Your shoulder looks good, and I think that it's my turn to interrogate." She nodded her head towards his shoulder and went to wet a rag to clean his face. Rio bent his head back to take a good look at it and frowned.

"'K, whatcha got?" He softly poked at his shoulder, feeling out the extent of the injury. Val had a million questions and was sure he wouldn't answer all of them. She gently grasped his jaw and wiped away the blood smeared on his check as she considered her questions. His lips parted as he observed her, she felt his eyes wander until she caught them for a moment.

"How long are you here for?" This was probably the least threatening question and she knew it had the greatest probability of getting a response.

"Long as it takes," With a sigh she pressed lightly on the bruise on his temple, and he hissed. _Good_ , she thought. She was learning that Rio liked giving vague answers, and couldn't blame him for it as she was doing the same. Val became irritated anyways, she actually _had_ a reason to be vague, he did not. He endangered her by bringing this mess into her home. She finished cleaning his bloody face and took a few steps back, needing space.

"No, you don't get to give me obscure answers. This is my home, and I'm only wondering how long the ringleader is going to hide out here." Val's snippy tone and reaction shocked him, he raised one brow and pursed his lips to this side.

"So, when you heard _favor_ _,_ you thought you was gonna get to pick when and where, huh?" His eyes grew colder as he glared down at her, straightening to his full height, he had at least 5 inches over her. She wished she was at least as tall as him. The fact that he held his height over her as a method for intimidation struck a match against her insides. She walked closer, until she was a foot away from him.

"Well, excuse me for wanting clarity on my life. I didn't ask for this _favor_ , so I think we're done here," Val's voice grew louder as she glowered back at him. She just stitched him up and he should owe _her_ , not the other way around.

Before she could blink, Rio's right hand had pushed at her stomach and shoved her against the wall. Her chest involuntarily taking in a shaking breath, his action completely took her by surprise. His forearm pressed tight against her neck, but not tight enough to constrict air. Val could feel his chest rising and falling against hers.

"You ain' no boss. An' you better figure out who you think you talkin' to like that, 'cuz it ain' me," He fired back, his voice was unfazed yet his eyes held a fire. She could easily reach up and grip his injured shoulder, but he held her hostage with one look and Val couldn't move. Her heart thudded against her chest, partly out of slight fear, and partly out of the lack of space between them.

A nerve on the side of his neck jerked, her eyes trailed down to his eagle tattoo again. Her anger subsided as her concentration waned, the expanse of his chest finally making its presence known. Her eyes slid down against her own accord, taking in the muscle of his own stomach. Her brain caught up to her eyes and she snapped out of it, instead looked back up at him, angry again. The humor returned in his eyes as he had just witnessed her checking him out, which only infuriated Val more.

"I'm not affiliated with your gang, _vaffanculo,_ " Val didn't realize how angry she was until the phrase popped out, she rarely spoke in Italian anymore. There was no need to in Detroit, she didn't know any family here. She shoved his chest forcibly, only to find him unmoving against her still. His smirk made a reappearance at the fact that he had her glued to the wall.

"Yeah, fuck you too, _bonita_ ," He gradually pulled back, but not before letting his eyes wander down her body. His gaze paused on her chest as she breathed heavily from the altercation between them. His eyes raised back to hers and they were caught, stuck in this moment, as she caught her breath. Val needed to get out of this room, she needed air that wasn't his.

"You're sleeping on the couch," She snapped, rolling her eyes, pushing past him out of the bathroom. Stomping away, she headed towards the closet to pull out a blanket and a pillow, Rio followed. Val tossed them in his general direction before going back to the living room to finish her movie. She sat down on the loveseat adjacent to Rio's new bed.

A few minutes later he sauntered in and took his place on the couch in just his boxer briefs—black, of course. Tearing her eyes from him, she settled her attention back on the TV.

"What we watchin'?" His low voice messed with her head, he had absolutely ruined her perfect Halloween night. She wordlessly pressed play as her anxiety rose within her. The thoughts flowed endlessly in Val's head. How long would he be here? Would he force her to do more favors in the interest of his gang? Are there people looking for him to finish the job? And the scariest thought that she didn't ponder over too long—what would happen to her when they found him here?

Inhale, pause, exhale. Inhale, pause, exhale. Inhale, pause, exhale. ****


	4. Chapter 4

Val wearily opened her eyes, eyeing the worn out patch of her olive green loveseat she realized she had fallen asleep in last night. How strange, she thought, she rarely falls asleep in a place beside her own bed, especially without a blanket. With a groan she crossed her arms above her head and stretched her legs out. 

The night before played in her head like a movie and she cast her eyes around the room as the credits rolled. She quietly observed the futon back in its couch setting, the blanket she gave him folded in the corner under the pillow she had thrown, but where was Rio? 

Heart kicking into gear, Val rolled off of the loveseat onto her feet as her anxiety made itself known. What if all of this had been some sort of elaborate scheme to get into her place and rob her? She recalled the very real gunshot wound of his and crossed that idea out. Okay, so this wasn’t a ruse to rob her, but what if he had some other sinister reason for being here? She cautiously walked into the dining room area–no dice–she leaned her head to get a better glance into the kitchen.

“You always this paranoid?” A gruff voice says behind her and Val twisted around to see Rio stepping inside from the patio. He’s wearing gray sweatpants cinched at the ankle, highlighting the lean yet muscular legs of his, and a blank tank. Her eyes immediately glancing back up to his and then to his hurt shoulder, shrugging at his question.

“Only when local gang bosses get gunned down and choose my apartment to lay low in,” She countered, the corner of his mouth twitched and she thought he would smile. His bottom lip jutted out as he made his way towards her and nodded with a pensive look. 

“How’s your shoulder feeling?” She asked, and he stopped a few feet from her, hand absentmindedly brushing his hurt shoulder. 

“Like someone without experience stitched me up,” He said with the faintest hint of a smirk gracing his face. She rolled her eyes and walked to the kitchen while Rio took a seat in one of the barstools at the counter.

“Wonder who’s fault that could be,” Val was equally annoyed with his personality as she was attracted to him. 

“When will you be leaving again?” She questioned as she opened the cupboard for a coffee cup.

Rio rolled his eyes and pulled his phone out of his pocket to scroll. He ignored the heated glare from her as she turned back around.

If he was going to be annoying, so would she. Did he even thank her for the stitches? She yanked the ground coffee out of the freezer and bitterly started the machine for them both. As the coffee machine noisily brewed, she snuck a look at Rio and was surprised to see him...sad?

Val watched him, curious, as he rapidly typed something out and she made out the colors of text boxes. His hand reached up and anxiously ran his nails over through his short hair. Whoever he was texting had obviously given bad news, and seeing as he is in charge of a gang, she could safely assume the worst.

“What’s wrong?” Val murmured before she could stop her mouth from moving. She pinched one of her crossed forearms, she didn’t want to sound like she cared, she did _ not _ care. He could get rid of her the second she became worthless, he didn’t care about her. 

It was hard for him to tear his focus from the phone in his hand, but when he did his face showed no emotion. Rio looked unbothered, save for the tell of his tensed jaw.

He wordlessly shoved away from the counter seat, making his way to the back patio overlooking the lower apartment complexes. The coffee machine beeped as the sliding door was slammed shut. 

So he could ask her questions but she couldn’t do the same? Val angrily pulled out the pot of coffee and had made herself a cup when she suddenly heard a raised voice. She set down the pot and strained her ears––the voice was from outside. A couple steps out of the kitchen, she rounded the corner of the wall on her left and towards the patio. The door must have not shut all the way when he threw it closed as it was still open an inch. 

Rio held his phone in his right hand, his left arm was pressed against his stomach so as to not pull on his shoulder. 

“That’s it, huh? I get shot an’ you decide to dip?” He bit out, the anger was evident. His body twisted to lean against the railing, she now had a side profile, and he was seething. 

“That kid is your damn responsibility, everyone knows that,  _ you _ know that,” His voice scraped against Val, she could assume how the person on the line felt. With the amount of patio doors open during the day, she wondered how long until the neighbors became concerned.

“I’on care if you felt like you were in danger, that’s the whole fuckin’ job,” Rio’s fist slammed on the banister, momentarily overlooking his shoulder. He groaned and pulled his arm back against his middle, kicking the banister out of spite. Val stepped forward to help but caught herself before he took notice. 

Rio may have bobbed his head, but he was far from understanding. His eyes were tight and furious, whoever was on the receiving side of the call had messed up––bad.

“Yeah, sayin’ sorry don’t mean shit seein’ as he’s dead,” He replied grimley before he pocketed his phone and slumped his shoulders. He leant against the banister with his good arm and sighed. Whoever this kid was, he had clearly meant something to Rio.

Val wondered if Rio actually meant a kid, a literal  _ kid _ , or just a young gang member. However old he was, he was gone, and it was the fault of whoever was on the phone with Rio. She thought how scary it is to be in charge of people’s lives like that, one mistake in that world could be the last one you make. 

She walked back to the kitchen and poured him a cup, Val couldn’t help but feel sympathetic. Assuming he was a plain coffee type of guy, she walked the black coffee to the patio. With two coffees in her hands, getting the door open was tricky, she ended up sliding it open with her foot.

“Everything okay?” She could be friendly with him without being his friend, Val thought. This was being a decent human––asking the drug lord how he’s taking the death of an employee/friend. A casual Saturday morning.

Rio glanced over his shoulder and lowered his eyes to the mug of coffee. He let out a soft sigh again and straightened, taking the extra coffee from her hands.

“Are you okay?” She was patiently waiting for him to talk, while Rio gazed into his coffee, clenching his jaw. She nodded and realized he wasn’t going to say anything.

“So, that phone call––” Val gently probed, she wanted to know more relating to last night and what it could mean. Was the kid in Rio’s gang? Was the kid the one who shot Rio? Was the kid in a different gang? 

Sighing, she realized that he wouldn’t answer her, and maybe this wasn’t the best time to ask him for details. Knowing how to read a room, she turned to leave the patio. One step towards the door, though, Rio cleared his throat. She stopped where she was and turned on her heel to face him.   
  


“Thanks,” He murmured to her, and leaned his back against the railing as he took a sip.

“Yeah,” Val shrugged, she was right about the plain coffee––interesting.

“No, I mean thanks for stichin’ me up and all,” He turned to watch the trees move in the breeze. She stared at him, was he finally thanking her? 

  
“Well, I owed you, didn’t I?” Val turned to leave, not wanting to push her luck and end up in a fight about the “favor” that kept on giving. Something in her kept her feet from moving, she needed to offer some sort of comfort.

“I’m sorry, I know how you feel, losing someone is never easy,” Val said, not sure what else to say. You can’t really comfort a person grieving a friend, nothing brings them back.

“Don’t––” He snapped at her, she cocked her head––confused. What was he mad about now?

“Don’t what?” She furrowed her brows, she was honestly trying to be kind to him.

“You think I want pity from a girl who’s never had to suffer a day in her life? Has her own place, a car  _ and _ a job?” He said quietly, but she could feel his fury in the air around her. 

She was surprised at his outburst, that was the only reason she didn’t speak up yet. He took a step closer and she simultaneously took a step back, pressing herself to the brick wall outside.

“You don’t know me, you don’t know the type of life I have. This is everyday, I lose people all the damn time. Don’t talk to me about understandin’ nothin’,” His voice was scathing and she blinked at him.

The quiet rage that Rio had at nearly all times of the day piqued her interest, but so far she hadn’t witnessed him raise his voice. If he were to raise it at any point, it would have been to yell at the one in charge of the kid.

But right now, she wasn’t scared by the anger that rested just below the surface, ever waiting to boil over. She wasn’t nervous, no, she was infuriated. How dare he assume things about her when he had just barged into her life and made himself at home? Gritting her teeth, she glared up at his dark and brooding self.

“Do you really believe that I’ve never ‘suffered’ a day in my life? What, you think you’re the only one who has experienced pain, death?” She jabbed a finger to his chest, yet Rio was unmoved, his face like stone.

“You’re right––I don’t know you,” She said with a shake of her head. Val gave him a steady look, he raised one eyebrow and pursed his lips in response. An emotion flickered over him for a second before a wall dropped over his face. She couldn’t tell what was going on in his head, and she wished she could.

“But you don’t know me either, so don’t pretend like you do,” Val leveled, and without sticking around to hear his response, she shoved past him into the apartment.

_ Inhale, exhale _ , she thought, as she took her coffee to her room. Val could do her school work and then make a grocery list, all while in the comfort of her privacy. 

Trying her hardest to focus on Economics, her mind wandered. Val didn’t understand why Rio was the way he was. She hadn’t done anything to him besides help him–– _ and accidentally steal his product and car _ ––her mind casually reminded. Well, either way, she didn’t deserve his anger. 

If she couldn’t even last 24 hours with him, how could she survive the weeks to come, assuming the healing time for a gunshot wound. His mention of her seemingly  _ fine _ life had rubbed her wrong, and was bringing up unwanted feelings of the past.

_ No,  _ Val would not let herself wander down those paths, she was better off without  _ him _ . Red licorice flashed in her mind and his voice whispered  _ ‘Elene’  _ in her head before she crumpled the thought and memory. 

All she knew was that Rio was wrong. She has worked so hard to get to a minimally stable point in her life, before him and his gang showed up.

Prodding her laptop off of her lap, she made the decision to talk to Rio. If they didn’t hash things out now, the next few weeks would be torture. As she moved to stand from her desk, a gentle knock from her door startled her.

“Yeah?” Val said, the door cracked open and Rio leaned against the threshold. His hurt arm still rested against his abdomen, she absentmindedly thought he should probably get a sling, as she swiveled to face him.

“So––his name was Eddie,” She squinted, not understanding who he was referring to.

“The kid. Year outta highschool, funny kid, real smart too,” He sadly smiled for a second, before it was washed away. She carefully studied his face, the remorse and grief was plain, obvious. 

“He was new, took ‘em under my wing when he lost him ma. But, I put Dags in charge of ‘em, just for drops and what not––training ‘em,” Rio said, his fingers scratching through his short beard, and her eyes once again trailed after his hand. 

There was something so graceful about him, Val thought as one of his rings glimmered in the sunlight from her window. Maybe it was the anger, hidden of course, though that much was evident even with the little time she’s known him. 

What struck her in awe was the quiet and calm that settled above the rage. She had to admit, he hid it well, until it coursed just below the surface. It was virtually invisible too, but Val recognized it because the same uneasy, hot temper laid inside her as well.

“What the hell happened last night?” She asked softly, moving to sit on her bed. Rio took a deep breath before motioning to her chair, asking if he could sit. She nodded and watched as he took a seat and rested his elbow on her desk, head in his hand.

He took a moment to collect his thoughts as he ran his hand over his scalp again. He lifted his head with a sigh and she caught his eyes. A short moment passed as they stared at each other, but it felt like an eternity to Val. So much emotion swirled in the brown eyes he had, and it stroked a flame inside of her. With the smallest jerk of his head, he cleared his throat and looked away, the moment gone.

“So, Eddie, he had gone quiet. Usually pops up every other day or two, sometimes more. Was gettin’ kinda worried when I missed a call from ‘em,” He bit his lip as he gazed out her window, as if remembering the night.

“He was supposed to be makin’ a drop on Friday, but he didn’ show up,” Rio sighed, his chin rested on his palm and he covered his mouth.

“I got a call from the client, he was real angry thinkin’ he had been stood up, so I called Dags,” His hand clenched at this and she could tell that he was restraining himself from breaking something of hers.

“Dags said he was lettin’ Eddie drop it by himself––fuckin’ idiot. So I drove to meet the client and told Dags to get his dumbass out there too,” He exhaled, and he’s glum as he tells the next part.

“Dags an’ I walked into the warehouse we were meetin’ at and the first thing I saw was Eddie and the client, strapped to their chairs and beaten pretty bad. A few guys stepped out, we didn’ know ‘em, and I’m not really sure what really happened, but––”

His brows furrowed while he took another deep breath and pulled his bottom lip in his mouth. He chewed on his lip, lost in thought, and his hand lightly grazed his hurt shoulder.

“You don’t have to tell me it all, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were a small bit traumatized from it,” Val offered, losing a friend and the trust of another––not to mention being shot––could do some damage.

“Nah, s’all good,” He swallowed and nodded, pulling himself back together.

“It was all jus’ some trap, so me and Dags went for our guns but one of ‘em put a gun to Eddie’s head. Said ‘we’ll be in touch’ and then they shot Eddie,” A short groan left his throat and he covered it up with a cough.

She didn’t know Rio personally, so why was her heart broken by this story, by his hurt? Why did Val’s chest tighten at the thought of Rio witnessing the death of this kid? She tried to compartmentalize her thoughts of Rio and what his emotions were doing to her, she focused on the story at hand.

“I don’ remember pullin’ out my gun but once I had shot his two guys, he shot me. The guy took off and I was lookin’ for Dags and then I saw his taillights as he drove off,” He shook his head scornfully, and leaned back in the chair. 

“I’m sorry,” She softly said, his eyes slowly found hers and said nothing. The power that his dark eyes held over Val was insurmountable. She found herself speechless as he gazed into her eyes. His lips parted and her attention was drawn to them. A horn honking outside snapped the tension and she continued on like nothing had happened.

“I know what you might think about me and that it looks like that I’m doing okay, but––” She paused, how much was she willing to share? Val decided to tell him something personal, he had trusted her first and she could do the same. He looked at her with intrigue, and she wasn’t sure why that made her heart beat fast.

“It’s not––it took a long time to get here, years couch surfing while waitressing at trashy bars. Saving every penny I made to get that ‘old as hell honda’, as you so kindly put it––” Rio chuckled at that, and she paused one more time. Telling him what she was about to say would surely cast a look of pity from him, but she wanted him to know that she truly understood him.

“I’ve lost my Mom and I’ve lost my Brother. And my Dad, he––I just––I don’t have any family left.” Rio pursed his lips at her words and glanced down at his feet. When he looked back up at her his eyes were kind, and they didn’t show pity, they showed sympathy. 

“I’m sorry, Valentina,” Rio says, his voice low and smooth, her stomach flips at the use of her full name. He nibbles on his lip and takes another glance out of the window.

“I wasn’ in my right head sayin’ what I said, and I’m sorry,” He said, blinking at her, she nodded and looked away. Val couldn’t handle his gaze on her again.

Rio stood and stretched a little before walking to her door, he looked over his shoulder.

“‘Ey mami, you hungry? I make a mean taco,” He said with a playful glint in his eyes, and she laughed. 

Val followed him to the kitchen and realized that she didn’t find him nearly as annoying as this morning. With a smile on her face, she watched him as he pulled the ingredients out of the fridge. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as she originally thought, it would be fine.

  
As the word  _ fine _ floated around her head, the red licorice and the whisper of his voice entered as well. But she was fine, he was gone, and it was fine now.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone help me with a ship name come onnnn


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait, life happened :-)

Within the next month or so, Val and Rio settled into their own routines, ones that didn’t cross often enough. So far, Val was perfectly fine with this, or at least she attempted to convince herself that she was. She didn’t need any distractions at this point of life. Val had enough to worry about with her full time course load and job, he wasn’t her responsibility. 

Since their “heart-to-heart” about Eddie, they haven’t really communicated other than nice pleasantries, and when Val gave him a sling for his arm. Whatever wall he had taken down to confess Eddie’s death to her was put back up after that day. 

And Rio stayed busy mostly, she assumed, with him being in charge of a very real gang. He holed himself up outside on the patio or in the extra room she had turned into an office–– _one that she never used_ , Val reluctantly thought. She wasn’t sure exactly what he did to occupy the endless amount of time he spent trapped in her apartment while she was at work or out with friends.

Val asked him to make a grocery list one day of food he liked and all he wrote on it was waffle mix. He was a conundrum to her, yet every time she asked him a personal question, he responded with his own question about her weird behavior.

Yesterday, Val had walked by the office and heard a call, she could hear mumbling, so naturally she pressed an ear to the door.

“Nah, y’know things are too heavy right now...Yeah I miss you too,” He murmured the last bit into the phone, and had Val not been eavesdropping so intently she would have missed it.

For a moment it was quiet and she wondered if he had ended the call and then she was stumbling forward due to the door opening. Rio caught her elbows and stabilized her. He bemusedly looked at her with pursed lips and his classic single raised eyebrow. _Why wasn’t he wearing his sling?_

“I was just––um––what do you want for dinner?” She never asked him this, usually she just cooked and made extra for him. He raised his other eyebrow to join the first before opening his mouth to respond.

“M’okay with whatev––” He started, before she essentially cut him off.

“Was that your girlfriend on the phone?” She asked incredibly fast, and then inwardly sighed when the gleam in his eyes returned. 

“Why you steal cars in High School?” He shot back, and the signature single eyebrow raise made a comeback. Val squinted her eyes at him, and remembered that she accidentally spilled that tidbit when he broke into her apartment. The first time they met. 

He returned the strong stare she gave him, his brown eyes sharply dug into her skin. Seconds pass and neither can look away from each other, Rio took a miniscule step forward. Val remained in the doorway, a foot away from him. 

His arm stretched to take a strand of her long brown hair in his grasp and he twirled it around his finger. Val sucked in a breath and made no sudden movements, not sure why he was this close to her, yet equally sure that she wanted him this close. 

“Not nice t’eavesdrop,” He said with bored brown eyes as he dropped the twisted up strands of hair. 

“Where’s your sling?” She asked, dazedly staring into his eyes. Rio wordlessly took a step back and slowly closed the door, subsequently pushing her out of the threshold. She leaned back against the wall and sighed, _he is a drug lord, he can handle himself, for fuck's sake_. 

The times their schedules did mesh, though, was dinner time. Val had always harbored a special corner of her heart just for cooking and baking, and she noticed that her and Rio were similar in this way. Today he offered to cook dinner for them again, it had been weeks since they honestly talked, and only one day since she psychotically asked about his girlfriend. 

“Ey, you eat dinner yet, ma?” Rio shuffled into the dining room to the kitchen table where she normally did her homework B.R.E.––before Rio existed. A quick glance up from her computer resulted in her seeing Rio, eyebrows raised in plain clothes––joggers and a t-shirt, always black. 

“Um, no, not yet. I was thinking of making dinner after I finished this assignment,” She scrunched her face as she considered what little food was left in the fridge, and if anything in there would even make a meal. Doing the mental math of how much longer this assignment would take, and she wanted it done a week early like everything else. 

“You like shrimp?” Her eyes trailed above his slightly open mouth to his questioningly raised eyebrows. 

“It’s in the freezer, isn’t it?” Val responded facetiously, chin resting in her hand. Rio kept his stare on her and she could see him running his tongue along his teeth. 

He always looked somewhat irritated with her, and then a little bit of something else. Val usually prided herself on being able to read and understand body language and facial features, yet with Rio, she didn’t know up from down.

“What do you have in mind?” Val asked him, and tilted her head to the side, she didn’t need to look at his tongue at all.

“Shrimp scampi. Whatchu think?” He pulled his bottom lip into his mouth, and she allowed herself a quick glance, quick, she thought. She could see him biting and dragging his teeth over it, and looked away as she took in a shaky breath.

Drawing her eyes back to his face, she saw humor in his eyes as he slowly let his lip go. Val suddenly found herself very focused on anything besides Rio as her face warmed. He laughed under his breath and opened the fridge.

“Yeah, a’ight, I’ll make us some,” He said, reaching in for the ingredients as Val scolded herself for staring at him again. She sighed softly and went back to her work, hoping it would take the same amount of time for him to cook dinner.

He asked Alexa to play something, she pulled up a mix of liked songs of Val’s. This caught Val’s attention, does he like my music? She usually played music while cooking in the kitchen, he never mentioned anything about it, and most of the time she made sure the volume was in check, so as not to bother him.

Clinking of pots and pans rang through the kitchen as Rio moved around and Val heard a hushed humming. It was Rio, humming as he cooked, Val was taken back at this side of him. The side that didn’t give away that he controlled a gang, or broke into apartments, or showed up with a GSW to the shoulder. 

It almost humanized him in a way. She turned her head and watched him, her curious gaze crossed his shoulders to the black bars tattooed on the backs of his arms. Rio turned to grab a wooden spoon, the movement shifted her eyes to the eagle on his throat. 

Val reflected on her own tattoos, hidden from sight, and what memories they pooled to the surface. People who weren’t in her life anymore, or even in the same zip code. 

She couldn’t imagine how much it hurt to get a tattoo done on your throat, Rio’s must have taken a few hours at least. To be so dedicated to an idea, a group, that you’d permanently mark yourself, gained respect in her eyes.

The smell of lemon and garlic brought her back to the present and she decided to help Rio. They had to get past this barrier of not talking, this doesn’t mean she’s a sympathizer for criminal ring lords, only that she cares to live with a stranger even less. 

Val saved and logged off, putting all of her school work away and clearing the table. She walked into the kitchen and hopped up on the count adjacent to Rio’s backside. Her hands gripped the counter’s edges and she stared at her swinging feet. 

Rio looked over his shoulder, taking her whole figure in and fought back a small smile at her childish demeanor. He turned around and stirred in more garlic into the shrimp scampi sauce, and gently bobbed his head to the music.

“Why aren’t you wearing the sling anymore?” She nosily questioned, though she did buy it, so she can ask where it went, can’t she? He glanced back at her with humor in his dark brown eyes.

“I’m fine,” Was all he said, she rolled her eyes and didn’t respond. Maybe talking to him was a mistake, and she was just about to make her exit when he surprised her.

He pulled a spoon from the drawer and offered her a taste, and she dipped her finger in. Val’s eyes grew as well as her smile, this was restaurant quality food, how in the world?

“So, you’re a crime boss by day and a food connoisseur by night?” Val let a short laugh escape her mouth as she snatched the spoon to taste the rest.

Rio gave her a full blown smile, charming an equally big smile from her in the process. He was by definition beautiful, and it was foolish to try to convince herself otherwise. 

“Connoisseur? Nah, but I dabble here an’ there,” He chuckled and went back to stirring, shaking his head.

Feeling more comfortable from the small ice breaker, she hopped down to her feet with a quiet laugh. Val reached an arm out to the pan and dipped her spoon in before reaching back. Rio watched the action with a faint look of disgust.

“You ain’ need to do the food dirty like that,” He said with a grimace and a chuckle. In the same pan he added the shrimp and set a lid on top. As Val took a seat on the counter again with a spoon full of the sauce, he turned around and rested his back next to the stove with crossed arms.

“What, this shit is _good_ ,” She exclaimed as she took a small sip, savoring the taste. 

“‘This shit’? Taste shit often?” He joked, and she rolled her eyes.

He had a look of absolute curiosity as she put the spoon into her mouth. She took the time to stare back at him with a shared look of curiosity. As she began to kick her feet back and forth, a mindless task that she often did, his focus narrowed to her right knee.

“What’s that from?” He motioned towards the knee with his head, her eyes casted down to the jagged discolored scar. It ran from the top left inner side of her knee down two inches. Her eyes grew grim as they met his, and she hastily dropped the spoon in the sink. 

Val took a deep breath and contemplated lying as much as she thought about staying quiet. Keeping quiet about her life is what is causing them to stay quiet, they don’t know much about each other.

“I got hurt and tore my MCL,” She simply stated, good, no specific details, that works, she thought. Rio opened his mouth to say something and paused, his tongue twisting before he softly bit down on it. He furrowed his eyebrows and met her eyes before returning to the scar.

“Looks more interesting than that, how’d it happen?” Unable to stop himself, he took a few steps towards her while his hand reached out and traced the old injury. Val thought he looked angry, his features were sharp as she took in the small frown adorned on his face.

She watched him with admiration at his soft touch to her knee, why did he care? Val observed him for a few more seconds as she learned that the angry look was less about anger and more so perplexity. A portion of her warmed as it hit her that she just learned a new fact about him––he liked to figure things out, liked to quell his curiosity.

With a shake of her head, she looked away to gather her thoughts before answering him. 

“Um, I fell in the apartment one day and cut my knee open,” She said, hoping it would be enough for him to move onto another subject. Val tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, trying not to let him catch onto her lie.

He glanced at her with a raised eyebrow and a cocked head, damnit, she thought, he definitely had caught on. 

“Why’s it look serrated?” He questioned and returned to his part of the counter, leaning back and recrossing his arms. She sighed, what could she say that would be enough for him to stop interrogating her any further?

“Glass––I fell on some broken glass, that’s why it’s jagged,” Val confidently said, pulling her bottom lip into her mouth. His eyes trailed to her mouth and caught the nervous tick before zipping back up to her tight eyes. 

Whether he believed her or knew when to leave well enough alone, he dropped the subject as a new song played through the speaker. 

“Love this song,” He said light-heartedly as he went back to the shrimp. She focused on the song and once it resonated she let out a boisterous laugh, tilting her head back.

Rio turned around again, amused at her reaction as he stirred.

“What’s funny?” He said with his tenor voice, feigning irritation at her laughing at him.

“Jonas Brothers? I didn’t know you liked boy bands,” She said with a bright smile, kicking her feet to the beat. Rio whipped around, incredulous to her statement, she only laughed harder.

“What? It’s S.O.S., plus there ain’ no one in the world that don’t like that band. Quit playin’, ma,” He said, rolling his eyes in disbelief with another laugh.

Val continues her laughing fit as he flips the searing shrimp in the pan. An idea popped into her head and she got Alexa’s attention.

“This is my favorite song, and unlike you, I _will_ admit to being a Jonas fan,” She whispered so Alexa doesn’t get confused. Rio turned and watched her with a small smile as he waited for her to request the mystery song.

“Alexa, play Games by The Jonas Brothers,” Val says, watching Rio with obvious excitement to see if he knows the song. 

The absolute second the drums start up following the electric guitar, Rio’s eyes widened in surprise.

“No way––,” He breaks out in a loud laughter as he bends at the waist. “Mami, this was my favorite when I was a kid,” He said standing straight with a wide smile. 

“No it was not! You’re lying, I’ve never known anyone who’s favorite was this one,” Val said with scrunched eyebrows and a grin, not one bit of her believed Rio.

“You just wan’ me to prove it, huh?” He cleared his throat and Val’s eyebrows raised high up as she realized that he’s about to sing.

“I’m waiting for you right outside, the place we first locked eyes, ” He sang along and Val hopped off the counter, and was in front of him in a heartbeat.

“I feel like we’re both losing sides, we don’t get to do this twice,” They sang together and began to laugh hysterically, Val wouldn’t have ever thought she'd see a crime lord sing to Jonas Brothers.

“You’ve got a good voice, Rio,” She said once they calmed down, he gazed at her for a minute before a smile spread on his face.

The bridge starts and Rio sings along with it instead of responding.

“Splitting apart, it’s getting harder to tell what you want,” Once he started singing again, so did Val, they couldn’t help themselves. 

They stare into each other’s eyes, an act that proves to be quite difficult as they are singing along to an old Jonas Brothers song. His eyes are gleaming, Val thought that hers looked no different, they were having fun.

“Splitting apart, it’s getting harder to tell what you want,” Val and Rio softly sing, their voices mixed into a harmony, and fighting off smiles was impossible at this point.

“Splitting apart, it’s getting harder to tell what you want,” After they sing and laugh out the next to last line, Rio gave her an ‘are you ready’ look before the last line played, the duo belted it out in full volume.

“And I’m so bored with these,” Val broke out into a laughing fit once they finished the line, and Rio followed. She wasn’t sure what they thought was so funny, maybe it was the fact that they hadn’t heard these songs in nearly a decade, yet they still know the words?

His laugh floated through the air with hers, she hadn’t seen him the light and happy in the month that she’d know him. As they sobered up and leant against the same side of the counter, ending up a mere two feet apart. 

“That song takes me right back to being a kid,” Val laughed and Rio looked at her with bright eyes, she couldn’t guess what he was about to say.

“Your voice is beautiful,” He said earnestly, and Val’s breath caught in her throat. Her face warmed as she gazed back at him intently, not sure what to say, not sure what she felt.

Her phone ringing kept her from knowing what she would have said, she broke their eye contact as she walked over to where it sat on the counter. 

Facing Rio, her face paled as she read the caller I.D.

>   
>  **blocked**  
> 

She anxiously swallowed as her heart beat out of her chest. All humor left the kitchen as the ringtone seemingly echoed throughout her head, getting Rio’s attention. 

“Ay, who’s callin’?” Rio asked as he took in Val’s tense posture and paler face. Val’s eyes teared up and she found herself frozen in terror, unable to answer Rio’s question, unable to move or think. She felt her heart throb in her chest as the pestering thoughts she usually pushed down came up to the surface.

“What’s goin’ on?” Rio’s worried voice rang in her ear, she couldn’t focus. It’s not him, it can’t be him.

Rio got more concerned the longer Val’s shaky hand left the phone unanswered. He moved towards her and gently took the phone from her hand. He pressed ignore call, obviously she wasn’t going to answer it.

He set the phone on the counter and observed her state once again, she still hadn’t moved and her breathing was getting faster.

“Ma, you good?” Val could hear him talking but couldn’t answer, she couldn’t move, and she couldn't slow down her breathing. Why is he calling? What could he want? Her thoughts raced as she took into account Rio’s voice––he was still talking.

Rio’s hands kindly gripped her upper arms as he asked her if she was okay, again.

“Valentina, are you okay?” He asked, rubbing his hands on her arms, attempting to get a response by using her full name.

Val stayed still, unresponsive other than her breathing, which was concerning Rio. She stared at his shirt at eye level, thinking that he can’t be calling her. Is he coming back? How did he even get this number? If he knew the number, did he know that she was _here_?

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” Rio’s voice softened around her as she began hyperventilating, unable to catch her breath. _He’s_ come back for her.

Rio’s warm hands pressed to her cheeks and tilted her face up. Val didn’t understand what was happening, or what he was doing, until he began to lean into her.

Rio’s lips touched hers, and her eyes widened in shock while his slide shut. As he pressed a hot kiss to her mouth, every thought in her head vanished, replaced with Rio. His warmth was carefully untangling all of the threads inside of her, and she wanted him closer.

Val still wasn’t responding, and since she hadn’t shoved him away yet, Rio took it one step further. He slowly traced his tongue across her bottom lip while his hands moved to grip her hips. Val gradually came to when she felt his teeth scrape against her lip, and her hands wrapped around his neck to pull him closer.

She opened her mouth against Rio, and his hot tongue met hers in the middle. Val was glad his hair had grown out just a little bit as her hands found themselves pulling on the strands. This drew a deep groan from Rio, and in return he shoved her against the counter. 

Their movements grew quicker as the tension finally broke between them. Val tugged at his hair again and Rio’s hands slid down to her ass, giving it a tight squeeze. When she let out a whine, Rio effortlessly lifted her up onto the counter top. She wrapped her legs around his waist, effectively pulling him even closer. Her mind wandered as he sponged scalding kisses from her jaw to her neck. What were they doing?

His fingertips caressing the tops of her thighs brought her back to the present, he was getting dangerously close to her shorts. He pressed his hips against hers, pulling a strained, “Rio,” from her lips.

Val could feel his teeth against her as he smiled from the use of his name. Hearing her own voice startled her, though. It was deep and husky and it snapped Val out of whatever haze they were both caught in. 

“Rio,” She said again as he hummed and pressed a searing kiss to her throat. Rio's lips dragged against the side of her neck, his breath wafting over her pulled a shiver from Val.

“Say it again, mami,” He groaned into her ear, misunderstanding her, so she set a hand against his chest. This was more effective, and he removed his mouth from her.

They caught each other's eyes, Rio’s were blown and his cheeks were pinker than they were before. Val was sure she probably looked about the same, she brought her hand up to touch her swollen lips.

Did that really just happen? As she felt Rio’s lips still on hers like a ghost, it suddenly dawned on her that her anxiety had waned.

“Wait, did you––was that––” She couldn’t form words, how could she think right now, his tongue had been in her mouth moments ago.

“Not how I meant it to go, but its somethin’ I learned awhile back, with anxiety attacks,” He said, lifting a hand to play with a loose lock of her hair. 

“You have anxiety attacks? And what do you mean, ‘something you learned’?” Val was confused, understandably, she went from an anxiety attack to sitting on the counter hearing him tell her to ‘say it again, mami,’ in her ear. 

“When I was in high school I had anxiety attacks a lot, one day one of my friends punched me during a real bad episode.” He said this like it was perfectly understandable, which to Val, it was not. 

“Um––” She doesn’t have the ability to collect her thoughts into a question, and he cuts her off anyways.

“Since your brain ain’t really good at multitasking in a situation like that, it normally helps you come back to the present.” He stated as he held his hands behind his back, as if he was physically restraining himself from touching her.

“So, how does that make sense for you to make out with me?” She said with a muffled laugh, trying to look anywhere but his lips, which were also swollen. She couldn't believe how they were casually talking as if they weren't making out a second earlier.

“You, me, we––it ain’t a one way street. Besides, you really want that right hook?” Rio questioned with his eyebrows pulled together. She laughed in response and gazed into his ever amused eyes.

“Oh, well, thank you for the help. And no––I didn’t,” She said softly, Rio lifted another hand to push her hair out of her face. His fingers trailed a light path down her cheek until they reached her chin, and he bucked it up. Her eyes met his, and what was it about this tension between them?

It felt monumental, and big, too big to ignore. She could practically feel his thoughts as his eyes traced her face. Momentarily pausing his gaze on her lips before returning to her wide eyes.

“Well, then le’me know when you need another distraction, darlin’,” He raspily said to her, as his eyes scorched hers. 

Before she could say another word, he returned to the food they had abandoned. His mouth against her throat was the only thing on her mind, and so she decided to skip dinner.

“I think––I just need some time, I’ll eat later.” She mumbled while she slid off the counter and made her way past Rio.

“Ay,” He called, trying to stop her, she kept walking further away. Val couldn’t think with him in the same room. What had happened? How will things go back to normal after this? And how could she think about anything other than his tongue on her neck?

“Valentina,” Rio’s voice travelled down the hallway as she shut her bedroom door behind her. 

_‘Say it again, mami,’_

_‘Say it again,’_

Inhale, pause, exhale.


	6. Chapter 6

It had been five days since she was pressed against Rio in a completely normal ‘let me help you with that anxiety attack’ makeout session. Val was fine, _absolutely and totally fine_ , she thought as she threw a straight shot of vodka back.

“Val, I’m so glad you could come out with us tonight,” Maggie drawled drunkenly in her ear as she hung off Val’s shoulder.

Tonight she was at a bar downtown, the kids had been tough today and the Rio ordeal was still sitting heavily on her mind. Her close friend group had invited her out, and to take roll call––one drunk Maggie, one wasted Avery, and one sober designated driver, Sidney. And one almost drunk Val.

“Maggs you are so drunk,” Laughed Avery as he tipped a pickleback shot into his mouth. Something about this action spurred Maggie into a loud laughter.

“Says white-girl-wasted Avery,” Sidney with an amused smile, currently nursing a water with lemon.

“Says old man Sid,” Avery accused, picking up Sid’s water and jostling it in front of his face. Sidney yanked it out of his grasp, narrowly avoiding spilling its contents.

“Keep calling me old and I’ll make y’all all get Ubers home,” Sid gave a side eye to the group with another sip from his water. Avery and Maggie giggled and left them to slither off to the dance floor.

Val chuckled, but was still in her head about life and work and, well, Rio. She was a person of many questions, always curious, wanting more information. And this was no different, she actually had more questions than usual. _What did he think about it all? Is he as twisted up about the kiss as she was? She doesn’t know anything about him but knows what his mouth tastes like?_

And that blocked phone call? Could that be _him_? 

She threw back another shot and decided to push her thoughts aside for the night. He may have ruined the atmosphere at home, _but he did calm your anxiety_ , her mind reminded her. She could think about all of this later, right now it is time to go dance against a random body in the crowd.

“What is up with you tonight, V?” Sid’s voice pulled her focus until she was meeting his worried green ones. In the few years that her and Sid had been friends, she came to know him as a highly observant intellectual. 

Their group doesn’t seem like they would mesh well from the outside, and Val wasn’t sure if they would all be friends if they hadn’t met the way they did. Val had met Sid through their mutual friend, Avery, since Sid and him roomed together during college. And she had met Avery one night in the women’s bathroom at some bar, Avery was crying on the floor, drunk. 

How he even ended up in that bathroom was another story in itself, but her and Maggie had gotten him into an Uber and safely home by the end of the night. Since then, Maggs and Avery have been inseparable, which soon brought Sid into the mix. 

“Hey, Val, you good?” He laughed as he waved a hand in her face, she nodded her head as her thought washed away.

“Yeah, just thinking I guess,” There was no way to casually let your friends know that a gang boss was your new roommate. Sid gave her a strange concerned look, but decided to brush it off.

“Hmm, alright then. How long until tweedle dee and tweedle dum are ready to call it a night?” Sid ran a hand though his curly hair, Val watched as he twisted it up into a bun. 

She laughed and gave him a pat on the hand, he didn’t often come out with them on bar crawl nights. He was in for a long evening, this was the first bar they had stopped by.

“Sweet Sid, silly, sweet Sid,” He glanced back over with more concerned forest colored eyes, eyebrows high. 

“You’re kidding, right?” She gave him a wide grin as she finished off another shot.

Sid looked hopeful, which dragged another laugh out of her.

“This is our first stop. I should have told you we were bar hopping tonight before you pulled names from the DD hat.” Val bit her lip to keep from giggling, the vodka was making itself known.

“Well, shit, I have to meet with India early to go over numbers,” He slumped back into his seat, a frown pulling the corners of his mouth down. India was his boss, an editor at BlueBird Publishing, and Sid was her assistant. He was a glorified intern, if she were being honest.

Val reached a hand out to tug on one of his brown curls hanging just at his shoulder.

“Now, now, don’t pout Siddyyyy,” Yeah, she was about that drunk now, Sid’s eyes lazily rolled over in her direction. He swatted her hand away from him and stood from his seat.

“Whatever, go dance with them, I’m gonna go sit at the bar. Laney is looking especially tortured tonight,” He lifted a hand to wave at the cute blonde currently tending to the frat house seated in front of the bar. 

Laney gave him a flirty smile, which Sid returned blindly, and had a drink waiting for him by the time he sidled up to the counter.

Val sighed, how easy their lives must be right now without a rio type living in their household. She drained her last shot and started for the mass of people dancing in the middle of the bar. 

_Tonight is not about Rio_ , she convinced herself as she slipped between Maggs and Avery. A laugh bubbled out of her as Maggie's tall figure closed into Val’s backside and Avery’s pressed against her front. 

Maggie’s hand brought another shot into frame and Val downed it as Avery shouted “VAL, VAL, VAL,” With the club’s pounding bass traveled through the pulsing LED lights, she officially slipped into a drunken haze.

********

Val wasn’t sure what time it was when Sidney pulled up to her apartment complex, but the sun wasn’t up yet. It was smart of their sober selves to have planned this on a Friday, otherwise she’d be calling out of work. 

“Stay in the car, and I’m taking the keys with,” Sid stated as he glared at Avery, who had once or twice hopped in the driver’s seat and driven away once Sid shut his door. 

“Yeah, yeah," Avery said, following a murmured " _dick_ ,” under his breath and a hush to Sid as he leant his head back against the headrest with closed eyes. Maggie was snoring against his shoulder, the night had been long.

“You don’t have to walk me up to the door,” Val honestly tried to say with her eyes open, proving that she did need an escort up the stairs.

“Mhmm,”

“Fine,” She laughed and tried to wiggle her phone out of her front pocket, she had a nagging feeling that she should try harder to convince Sid to stay in the car. 

They got up the stairs with only one stumble, from Val of course, and quickly found themselves at her door.

“After you, V,” Sid said, but Val only laughed and shoved at his chest. His curious eyes caught hers, wondering why she was acting so out of character. There was a reason he couldn't come inside, but drunk Val couldn’t remember for the life of her why. 

Sid gave her another inquisitive look as she stood there with her keys. 

“Do you want me to unlock the door?” He asked, already reaching to pluck her keys out of her palm. She laughed and pulled her arm behind her back, successfully keeping them out of his grasp.

“Give m–give them–Val don’t make me,” A sudden smile bloomed on Sid’s face as both of his arms wrapped around her, both pulling her close and entrapping her arms. 

He began tickling her sides as she squirmed in her arms, squealing.

“Stop!” She laughed uncontrollably as his fingers skimmed her ribs. She begged him again to quit and he listened, slowing his movements.

With her unable to move, grabbing the keys would have been possible, but he didn’t move as their laughter faded. 

“You gonna give me the keys now?” His smile glinted under the yellow fluorescent lights lining the walkway. 

Though still drunk, she gazed into his dark green eyes, focusing on the golden speck in his left eye. The same color of gold in Rio’s eyes, _why is he still in her head_?

“Why are you looking at me like that,” He whispered, as if he were sharing a secret. His eyes bounced between hers as she watched a flicker of endearment wash through them. 

She didn’t have time to consider why before he grasped the keys and pulled himself away. His soft laugh caressed her and he moved around her to stick the key in the knob.

Sid hadn’t even turned the key before they heard the deadbolt scrape against the wood. The door swung open to reveal a sleepy looking Rio––shirtless and in his black boxer briefs.

He was rubbing at his eye with one fist while the other gripped the door’s threshold. Val sobered up fractionally as she took in Rio’s presence and suddenly remembered why Sid should have stayed in the car. 

“Why’s your drunk ass bein’ so damn loud out here,” Rio’s tired and aggravated voice muttered before he opened his eyes and took in Sid. 

Rio raised his eyebrows as he glanced behind him at Val, giving her a clear _who the hell is this_ look. Funnily enough, Sid had turned around to give Val the same exact look.

Val was still slightly drunk, and caught between a rock and an even harder rock, she was at a loss for words. And so she decided to laugh it off, Sid didn’t need to know about Rio.

“Okay, thanks for walking me in Sid. Tonight was fun,” She tried to brush this whole situation under the rug, hoping Sid wouldn’t wonder why a tatted, shirtless man was standing in her apartment.

“Um,” Sid murmured, his eyes were glued to the eagle on Rio’s neck.

Rio was gazed amusedly at Sid as he leant against the door frame. 

“Good night, Sid,” Val stepped around Sid to walk inside but Sid’s hand zipped out to clasp around her wrist.

“V, who is that?” He was confused, but mostly concerned, as he should be. We know all of each other’s friends, and most relatives, years of friendship gets you that.

She didn’t know what to tell him. _Oh, him? He’s just the local gang lord who basically black mailed me into housing his illegal ass while he stays undercover to escape another gang who want him dead. No biggie!_

A glance towards Rio himself solved nothing, he was staring back at her with eyebrows raised in an arrogant _“yeah, what am I to you?”_ type of look. She narrowed her eyes at him before giving Sid an earnest and calming smile.

“He’s just a friend of a friend, he’s in town for some time and needed somewhere to stay. Anyways, you better go check on the twins in your car.” Val reminded him and gave a light laugh to settle things over.

She did not want him to recount this story to Maggs and Avery, but she knew he would. Val was a boring person, she made sure that they thought that. This would effectively ruin that cover if they knew his true identity. 

Also, _hello, he’s a gang boss! He could simply kill all of her friends if they so much as slightly irritated him. They cannot know about Rio_. Her mind was a whirlwind of fears and anxiety now.

Sid gave Rio another once over and glanced back at Val, she could tell that he had almost bought her lie. He slowly let go of the grip on her wrist and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“O...kay,” She could see something else in his eyes, he may have believed her for now, but he was still worried. It warmed her heart that he cared this much about her, even though she was probably safe.

“Yeah, alright, have a good night V. Take some ibuprofen, you were a mess tonight,” He added with a chuckle and ran a hand through his long hair. She grinned at him and rolled her eyes. 

Rio still looked bored but he opened the door wider to give Val space to walk in. She stepped inside and turned around to Sid to wave bye.

“I’ll see you soon?” He nodded a yes and eyed Rio’s eagle before looking him in the eyes.

“Yeah, you’ll see me real soon,” His voice dropped half an octave, a clear warning to Rio. The thought that Sid could intimidate Rio was the funniest thing she’s ever heard, she kept her laugh in her throat.

“Okay, bye,” A nervous laugh and a look to Rio resulted in him closing the door and giving Sid a side smirk.

“Real soon, huh?” He muttered to no one in particular as he rubbed his eyes again. Val pinched her palm so as not to let her gaze dip to his torso. 

“Sorry for waking you up, I didn’t think he’d walk me inside,” She was definitely more sober after the anxiety attack that was caused by having two worlds collide at 3 am.

He swiveled around to her and rested his hands on the top of his head, holding his wrists. The curious expression he wore was making her heart race. They still hadn’t talked over the anxiety attack she had the other day. 

“You aware you sent me some texts tonight?” He cocked his head and watched humorously as her eyes widened.

“What? I did not,” She yanked her cell phone out of her back pocket and pulled up their conversation. He only texted her about groceries and she only sent a text if she was coming home late, the messages never delved any deeper than that.

“Oh baby,” His low, husky tone was like a hot coal against her stomach. It followed with a laugh from him.

A hand flew over her open mouth as she scrolled through the texts that she had definitely sent him.

>   
> **drukn** – Yesterday, 11:43 PM 
> 
> **heyy bossy** – Yesterday, 11:58 PM
> 
> **you beverage told me if u have a guekfeirn** – Today, 12:04 AM
> 
> **your tattoos are jot** – Today, 12:18 AM  
> 

The spelling and grammatical errors were almost worse than the actual messages themselves. Her face burned red as a blush made its way down to her chest. Did she even need to read the rest of them?

>   
> **your lips were soft** – Today, 12:19 AM  
> 

She apparently had sent an audio recording after that, which she would need to play alone in her room later when she enters a mortified state before bed. Val had sent one more text after the audio clip and she was nervous to read it.

>   
> **i’m afraid of him** – Today, 1:23 AM  
> 

She slipped her phone back in her pocket, fully humiliated. Val made a mental note to hand her phone off to Maggs the next time they went out drinking.

Rio’s arms dropped from his head and his voice was gentle when he asked her, “You wanna talk ‘bout it?”

She raised her eyes from the floor to meet his and she watched as he chewed on his bottom lip. For once, his eyes weren’t ridiculing hers, but they weren’t sympathetic either. 

There was a lot to cover with these texts, obviously her face burned from the fact that she was admitting things about Rio that she’d rather him never know. _Your lips are soft_ , what had she been thinking? And his ego was way too big to handle her calling his tattoos hot, or “jot”. 

The “afraid of him” would be harder to explain, and she didn’t necessarily think it would be wise to share the context of it. She wondered if he knew that Rio wasn’t the _him_ that she was afraid of.

“I’m–or I was drunk, and I’m fine,” She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. He didn’t look convinced.

“Yeah, got that with ‘guekfeirn’,” A soft laugh that did nothing to ease her embarrassment tumbled out of his mouth, there’s no hiding the fact she clearly meant _girlfriend_.

She twisted the ponytail around her wrist until it pinched the soft skin on the inside of her arm. What could be said, she thinks he’s hot and she wants to kiss him again? Duh, but what would that help?

So she said nothing, her head was pounding and she didn’t want to have this conversation right now, or ever.

“So, you afraid of me?” He crossed his arms over his chest, only accentuating his biceps even more. _God, did he need to be this attractive at 3 in the morning_?

To answer this question completely would only bring around more questions that she didn’t want to answer. He didn’t need to know anything about her, he would be gone in a few months when it was safe.

Her eyes focused on the sparse light outside of the patio as she contemplated how to answer. She wasn’t afraid of him in particular, she was afraid of his lack of boundaries towards personal space.

“No, you wouldn’t still be here if I didn’t feel safe,” Not that she had much say over his staying here anyways.

“Who is he,” He drew a serious look, a lifted eyebrow and pursed lips. Val had come to know this look well, usually during an upsetting work call or when she was bothering him.

She pulled in a shaky breath and twisted her ponytail again which resulted in the rubber band snapping. They watched it fall on the floor before making eye contact again.

“I–He’s not–I can’t talk about this,” Her eyes implored him to drop the subject. Rio scratched his beard as his gaze wandered about the living room.

“‘K, you wanna talk about any of it? How ‘bout my soft lips,” His serious tone had easily transitioned into his honey trap voice as he took a step closer to her. Her face burned red again as she narrowed her eyes, do they really need to have this conversation right now.

His caramel eyes burned hotly down her figure as Val pretended not to be affected. She rolled her own eyes and rubbed a hand down her face. 

“We’re not talking about this,” 

“Oh, I think we are,” His cockiness annoyed her and yet she was still blatantly aroused. 

“I’m tired and I’m going to bed,” Val tried to side step him but Rio stepped in front of her to block the hallway to her bedroom.

“Rio, move,” She huffed as he smirked wider.

“Nah, mami,”

“Fine,” She pressed forcefully on his taut stomach to move him aside, but Rio had other plans. He snatched one of her wrists and stepped impossibly closer. 

She subconsciously sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, her teeth harshly biting the flesh. His heady gaze slipped down to her lips, and she felt a tug. His presence alone was intoxicating, and she couldn't think.

This time the tug was physical, he was actually pulling her closer to him until their chests were touching. She was scared that he could feel her fast heart beating against him, his skin against hers was enough to give her a heart attack. 

The tension hung in the air and surrounded them, it was thick and electrifying. His chest rose as he inhaled, and he brought his hand up to her mouth. Before she could take notice of exactly what he was doing, his forefinger and thumb pinched her bottom lip.

“Things this lip does to me, Valentina,” He rasped out, clearly as affected by her as she was by him. Hearing her full name fall from his lips did things to her that she couldn't explain or understand.

He let gravity pull his hand back down to his side, letting go of her lip. Now that her drunk-ish brain was complete mush, she had no control of her actions. Val raised her fingers to the one place she had been yearning to touch––his throat. 

A quick glance up and she noticed that his eyes were ablaze as her fingers softly roamed the outer edges of the eagle. Goosebumps arose to the surface of his skin as her index finger traced the eagle’s wingspan. 

Her fingers continued their exploration past the tattoo and up to the scruff on his jaw. She slowly scraped her nails through the slight beard he had grown over the past month. 

His mouth fell open and his bottom jaw jutted forward, his warm breath washed over her hand. Rio’s hand reached up to latch onto her wrist, pausing her movements while holding her hand against his cheek. His hungry eyes met hers as he leant his head down towards her.

Rio blinked slowly at her, waiting for her next move. His thumb was caressing the soft inside of her wrist. Their breath had quickened and his eyes were searching hers. Her eyes flickering down to his mouth seemed to settle Rio’s mind, his other hand reached out to touch her cheek.

_You’re mine_ , a voice whispered, _his_ voice. And her body convulsed as a shiver ran up her spine. She tried to push the harsh, berating voice out of her head, but it echoed. _You’re mine_.

It took his full lips grazing her cheek for Val to snap out of it, this could not happen. Before it could go any further, she slowly pulled her hand out of his hot grasp and moved back. 

Rio’s hand fell from her cheek as he watched her, waiting for a reaction. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as her eyes fell to his throat for a moment.

“It’s late,” 

“Right,” Rio drawled and slowly nodded his head.

He silently stepped to the side allowing her to leave the room and she raised her eyes to meet his daunting ones. Rio had his own bottom lip tucked into his mouth and Val contemplated for a moment sharing something about her life.

At the same time, one detail would lead to questions which would lead to her talking about him. And Val didn’t know if she would ever be in the right headspace to share that with Rio.

She let a quiet sigh fall from her lips and cast her eyes towards the ground. 

“Night,” She heard as she headed down the hall, with a look over her shoulder Val watched Rio’s eyes run down her body.

With a smile and a roll of her eyes, she replied “Yeah, good night,”.

********

_The snow fell quietly around her as she walked home from the café, the December wind bit her cheeks. Ice cracked under her foot as she climbed the steps to her front door._

_Val stopped dead in her tracks at the fact that a parcel had been delivered in her absence. It was wrapped in brown parchment paper, tied with red twine and a sprig of pine tucked underneath._

_It wasn’t addressed, but that didn’t matter, Val already knew it’s sender. She inhaled a rugged breath and shakily reached into her purse for her keys. Her head whipped around at the slightest sound, could he be here? Watching her?_

_And if not him, could someone else be spying on her under his command? Val’s cold hand finally unlocked the door and she scurried inside, slamming the door shut behind her._

_The parcel seemed to stare at her, daring Val to open it, but she didn’t want to see the contents. She didn’t want to have to leave her home, find shelter again in another quiet city, find another job._

_Grasping the box, her nimble fingers untied the twine and set the pine aside, the paper unfolded. She found an ivory colored card sitting on top. It looked like someone had actually hand written with ink. Her Heart thrummed against her chest as she read the message._

_**Elene, you're mine.** _

Val woke suddenly, gasping for air while sitting up. After drawing in some breaths that were just short of hyperventilating, a cold drop of something fell on the back of her hand. Her eyes moved down to the tan and freckled skin to find a teardrop. 

With a deep sigh, she fell back against her bed, the dream playing in her head again. It had been so long since her brain had recycled this one that Val had almost forgotten it.

Alcohol always seemed to trigger a bad night’s sleep for her, but this was on the worse side of bad. This memory that never seems to escape her, digging its claws into Val right when she was getting to the “I’m better,” stage. 

As she retraced her dream’s steps, she couldn’t help recount that one thing about the dream had changed. This particular night years ago, the crisp paper she held in her dream was in actuality sopping wet. And the card wasn't ivory, but crimson red, blood soaked through and through––at the time it was a clear message in itself. 

Another alarming detail wrongly dreamt was the message itself. That night is one she will never forget, especially the words that were so carefully written for her. 

_Elene, you will burn for what you did._

She inhaled deeply and pushed that door to her old life closed, she was worrying about nothing. She has a ton of people blocked, she thought. That caller could have been anyone, it wasn’t necessarily him. 

And plus, there was one obvious clue that he wasn’t coming for her, she hadn’t received any candy as of late. She was fine.

Afterall she lives with a man who is in charge of a gang, something good should come from that. Val convinced herself that she was perfectly safe, nothing to worry about.

That is, until she picked up her phone.

>   
> **a BOY is living with you????????????????? 🤯 girl WHAT** –– Sunday, 9:33 AM   
> 

Avery’s text had followed Magg’s nearly an hour later, right when her irritation towards Sid began.

>   
>  **Is he cute tho 😏** –– Sunday, 10:27 AM  
> 

She laughed, there’s no way Rio would swing for Avery, not that she wouldn’t mind the idea. Avery was a very attractive Dominican, out and proud, as well as naturally flirty. This usually caused problems with the straight men who were on the receiving end of his pickup lines.

She could picture Avery telling Rio that his leather jacket looked better on his floor than on Rio. Pushing that thought aside, she recited back to them the same excuse she gave Sid, there was no point in opening pandora's box right now.

Her mind wandered to the feel of rough stubble under Rio’s jaw, the smooth skin over his adam’s apple, his hand around hers.

She groaned, _this is why nothing can happen_. One––she’d never be able to quit thinking about him like this, and two––she couldn’t stop the fear of the red licorice showing up on her welcome mat, and the anxiety was eating her alive. 

To get her mind off of _him_ , she thought about the other him––Rio.

It had been nearly a month and a few weeks since Rio had been shot and moved in, they were nearing Christmas. His shoulder, which honestly should be more screwed up then it is, is doing a lot better. He had grudgingly worn his sling for a week before claiming that his shoulder didn’t even hurt anymore.

She also knew that he had pretty strong pain meds that were delivered in the middle of the night by someone. Val wondered how long he would be here, how long is appropriate to hide from a rivalry gang?

Would he spend Christmas here? With her? Val stopped celebrating Christmas when she moved here, until she had met her friends. They started their own friend Christmas a few days early before splitting up to visit their own family. 

Val didn’t have any family, not anymore. And that thought brought around another bout of sadness. Maybe it's time for homework, she could clear her mind enough for anatomy.

Val spent her afternoon catching up with some work in her classes, ones that she had forgotten about for the last few days. She left her room to grab a snack and coffee that Rio had apparently made and stuck in the fridge for her to reheat later.

He really didn’t need to perform any more nice acts, it only made it harder for her to ignore the male presence in her apartment.

It was ultimately a quiet and boring day, until she heard Rio on one of his secret calls. She had opened her window to feel the cold winter air as she sipped her hot coffee, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to hear his voice on the patio.

His voice was terse, which wasn’t abnormal for Rio. She watched the colorful sky as the sun began to set, the serenity was seriously contrasting to Rio’s voice.

“Last heard from ‘em weeks ago after he called me, tryna apologize or some shit. Sent a weird text. Kinda cryptic––‘Fixin it’,” A pause, who were they talking about?

“You don't think I ain’ already doin’ that? I’ve had someone trackin’ his credit cards for weeks,” Rio snapped, and she wanted to laugh, usually it was him snapping at her that she’s taking too long in the bath or that she’s cooking the dinner wrong.

“Look, Dags ain’ part of this no more, can’t trust him until we know for sure he ain’ with that gang. I wanna find the fucking prick who shot me,” That was Rio’s end of discussion voice, and she could picture the expression that usually accompanied the tone.

Rio was quiet for a few moments, she wasn’t sure if he had hung up or what. Val waited a minute longer before going back to her homework but was interrupted by Rio again.

“Don’ call again until you find him,” His intonation left nothing to be misunderstood, she forgot how intimidating he could be outside of the domestic Rio she had come to know.

Once she heard him muttering curse words at no one in particular, she figured he had hung up. Her stomach growling made her mind travel to the contents of her fridge, Rio did leave the shrimp scampi he made in there. 

Hoping to slip stealthily into the kitchen to microwave the leftovers, she tiptoed out of her room. Val had barely reached the dark kitchen when the hallway light suddenly flipped on. 

She gasped, shocked, and turned to see Rio at the switch. He was eyeing her like she was doing exactly what she was doing.

“The hell are you doin’,” 

She dropped to the soles of her feet as her cheeks tinted pink, she was on a roll for embarrassing herself lately.

“Um, dinner, I was just grabbing dinner.” God, she was gonna have to crack open the titos bottle on top of the fridge tonight. This week has been the worst.

He hummed and went to sit at the counter, his chin couched in his palm. She gave a nod and went about her way to the fridge, trying to ignore his presence. The thing is, he looked sad. Knowing herself, she was bound to ask him what the matter was any second now.

“What’s the matter?” God _damn_ it, she almost slapped her hand against the counter top.

“Just work, I guess, nothin’ new.” He spoke up from behind her. Rio sounded glum, which made Val realize that she preferred the cocky Rio instead.

She grabbed the container with the scampi and stood straight, turning to face Rio. Val had an idea.

“You know what we should do?” Her hopeful voice caught his attention. Rio raised his head from his hand and jutted out his bottom lip as he squinted his eyes.

“Wha’s that,” God, his raspy voice did so much for her.

“Drink,” She faced the fridge and grabbed two bottles, the titos and Rio’s whiskey. They deserved this, or at least she did. It was getting harder and harder to reject Rio when all she wanted was to hear him in her ear.

“Mami, I been wanting a drink all fuckin’ day,” He groaned and slapped the marble counter top. His groan, although innocent, did completely _not_ innocent things to her.

And just then, she had another idea. It could only lead to bad decisions, but maybe it would help their living dynamic.

“Do you wanna play a game?” Rio stood at that question and walked around to lean against the kitchen entrance in front of her.

She turned to him with both bottles of alcohol in her hands. Rio raised an eyebrow and cocked his head as his eyes scoured down her body. With his lip tucked into his mouth, he nodded towards her.

“Whatchu got in mind?”


	7. Chapter 7

“Oh, come _on_ , that’s definitely a shot,” Val shrieked at Rio as he passed on another question. 

His eyes met the ceiling as a smirk crossed his face, she was surprisingly enjoying this night in with him. They were both stressed out, so she had recommended drinking, and to make it more fun––a drinking game.

It had developed into the type of game you’d play at a highschool party, truth or drink. Which really just turned into them drinking whether they answered or not. But that only made it more funny considering the current company in front of her.

Val had started out easy, like, what’s your favorite candy? And after what seemed like minutes of deep thought from him, Rio responded with skittles. And why was this the most shocking thing to find out about Rio than anything? She shouldn’t have really been shocked because he’s a sour person, it would make sense that he likes sour things.

He reciprocated the question with a twitch of his lips, and almost a smirk when she revealed that hers has always been peanut m&ms. As usual, she glanced momentarily at him, and as usual he remained passive. She ventured towards more personal questions, where are you from? What’s your mom like? Do you have any siblings? 

Though he remained non-verbal through most of her inquiries, his eyes let on more than his words probably could have. It was painfully obvious that he probably didn’t have the most normal childhood, but then again, neither did she. So why did she continue to ask pressing questions that she knew would receive a look of indifference? 

And so maybe she was egging him on, begging for an outburst. She wondered if the alcohol would make him feel loose enough to share with her, but seeing his stable state after all he’s drunk already gave her an answer. And if anyone was getting to the point of drunk babbling, it was definitely Val.

He dismissed every question with a drag of vodka until they had to resort to a new bottle of alcohol. By now, he should be tipsy, or at least a little drunk like how she is right now, but he wasn’t. She laughed at his scrunched up face when she yanked the bottle of tequila out of his grasp.

“God, you’re so fucking annoying. Dogs or cats?” She sighed, relinquishing the hope of pulling something confidential from him.

“Dogs,” A twitch of his mouth at her cursing is the only facial tell to prove he’s enjoying the game.

He takes a moment to lean back on the palms of his hands, as if he’s trying to gain inspiration for a question. His tongue pokes out between his teeth as he seemingly focuses on something behind her. 

“Why did you stay here for thanksgiving,” Her eyes raised, and opened her mouth to answer him, but froze. The intrusive voice in her head was already doing its job.

_Elene, you will burn for what you did._

Even though he didn’t know that part, he did know that she didn’t have any family. Maybe he didn’t remember their first real talk, and that was okay, but she wasn’t going to recount the story with him again. 

She bit her lip, mostly to stop the tears from piling up in her eyes, and to distract herself that they were actually talking about something real. The crisp winter air through the cracked open porch door swept through her hair as she pondered on her dream once again, or rather the memory. It was so long ago, she has been here long enough with no trace of _him_ , so why does that dream still pull such an emotional response? Before she could think anymore on the matter, the bottle was against her lips and she was taking a long pull from it.

Rio opened his mouth but said nothing, she was shocked to see him look even a little apologetic for unknowingly being intruding. The thought alone of him being apologetic was enough to make her laugh. But, feeling sorry for being intrusive? That was laughable, wasn’t his entire stay in her home intrusive? 

With a quick shake of her head, she laughed it off. If he was going to ask something serious, then maybe she could do the same. Looking up, Val caught Rio staring at the lip that was previously in her mouth before he snapped his head to the side. 

“And you?” 

His head slowly turned, his eyebrows furrowed for a short moment, was he confused by her question?

“Ma, I can’t leave,” He said with a subtle puzzlement in his eyes, as if to say that she should have already known this.

“You say that your arm feels fine, why are you still here?” Before she tipped her head back, another pull. Maybe she could get drunk enough to not remember tonight, the drink was already affecting her judgement.

As if her words brought his arm back to attention, his eyes lowered for a moment before dragging back to hers. A lone eyebrow raised in response and she rolled her eyes. Alright, she knew it wasn’t safe for him to leave, plus, did she even want him to leave? She was aware that with him here she was significantly safer to some degree.

“Ain’t your turn,” He drawled in that way that made Val feel things.

She mocked him, repeating his words in a voice that obviously sounded nothing like him whatsoever. He laughed at her obvious bitterness as she gulped down mouthfuls, ignoring the burn in the back of her throat.

Roughly handing the bottle back, his fingers twitched as it grazed hers. Val briefly wondered if he could hear her heart thudding in her chest. Her brown eyes grabbed his before they both glanced towards the hardwood floor. 

A laugh bubbles out of her mouth involuntarily, how is he not as tipsy as she is?

“So,” He hummed, she shrugs at him and can almost see the gears turning in his head.

“Why do you work with kids?” Val’s head cocked to the side, she wouldn’t think that he’d care why. She picked at the rug they were sitting on in the living room as she considered it.

She forced herself to sober, just a little, so she could answer him in a way that made sense.

“Because I like kids,” 

Rio gave her a bored look, she knew that wasn’t what he meant. It made sense, him wanting to know more about her. Of course he’s curious, she’s curious about him too, but it just made things more complicated. He would go about his life in a month or two and they would never see each other again.

“Why does it matter?”

He remained still and quiet, the street noise outside drifts through the apartment. She could take a drink, but that would only encourage him to question-dodge even more.

“Because they don’t have anyone,”

His eyebrows furrowed for only a second as he contemplated what she meant. 

“Don’t them kids in your class have parents? Families?” He bent his knees and wrapped his arms around them, giving her his full attention.

“Sure, they have their parents for _maybe_ three hours a day.”

Rio stayed quiet, she continued on.

“They wake up, get dressed and eat breakfast with me.” 

He waved a hand as if to say _go on_ , Val sighed. 

“They spend the whole day with me, I change their diapers, I read naptime stories, I dry tears when they fall on the playground, I teach them the alphabet. I play with them, I teach them not to bite, right and wrong. They get picked up, eat dinner with their parents, and then go to bed. It starts all over the next day.”

It’s quiet again, she looks at Rio, whose face gives nothing as to what he’s thinking. He blinks as he looks at her with this look, and she wasn’t sure what the look meant.

“So, in theory, _you’re_ the parent, _you_ raise ‘em,” He said, crafting an assumption.

“Yeah, I probably get too attached to them, but I love it. They’re so full of joy and they’re funny, like, honestly funny.”

Rio’s dark eyes looked pensive as he gently nodded at her. She hoped he would focus on the cute side of the answer, that she likes kids because they’re _kids_. But the look he is giving her, an honest understanding behind the dark brown of his eyes, makes her swallow.

“I just take care of them,” Hopefully dismissing his question, because she knew it meant more to her than that. They meant the world to her.

Her eyes unfocused as she began to stare at the nearly empty bottle in her hand. She absent-mindedly bites her tongue to keep her tears at bay. The amount of times that Val has almost cried in front of him is getting ridiculous. How did he have this ability to remove layers that not even her friends have attempted to remove?

“You take care of ‘em like you wanted someone to take care of you,” Another assumption, no, a correct statement. 

Her eyes softly gaze at Rio, her heart thuds again in her ears as she wonders how he could so easily read her. Why is it so simple with him, and yet she wants to rip her own hair out half of the time.

For a moment they sit in the still soft city noises, his words wrap around her heart and squeeze, _like you wanted someone to take care of you_. 

She couldn’t think of what to say. Her instinct was to push him away, to keep this anonymity between them. Val didn’t want to venture into the gap of boundless vulnerability that lies between them. 

Yet, as Rio’s eyes traveled across her cheek warmed cheeks, the want to reach for his hand grows. She clears her throat and tries to laugh–which sounds more like she’s choking.

“My turn,” Another peer at Rio reveals the smallest of smiles, which she can’t help but reciprocate before straightening her features. 

Her vulnerability had sobered her enough to be thinking rationally, but would she get this chance to ask him personal questions again? It seems as though his walls are dropped just enough now, so maybe?

“You were on the phone, you missed them,” Okay, so she’s not completely sober, but he gets the point.

“What’s the question?” His eyebrows are raised at her once more, she struggles not to roll her eyes.

“Who was it?” This simple question has been plaguing her mind for weeks. Why did she care who was on the other line, would it bother her if it was a girlfriend? 

She glances back at him and he appears to be in thought, Val’s fingers softly tap against the floor as she waits. This could be one of the very few times that he lets her into something involving him that isn’t directly related to crime. She didn’t stop to ponder exactly why she wants to know more about him, or what that could mean.

Val is about to break the silence, unable to remain quiet, as he finally answers her.

“My mom,” 

Her head tilts in adoration, which she quickly shoves down. Val slowly nods as embarrassment creeps in, her drunk texts asking if he had a ‘guekfeirn’ (girlfriend). Before her cheeks get too red, she takes another sip.

If she pressed him further about the matter, he may close the doors around her, which was something Rio excelled at. She was sure that he didn’t let people know personal facts about himself slip out, he was too calculated for that. But she was so curious. How did the family dynamic work, did his mother even know he was involved in crime? As the thought wanders through her head she’s reminded of the original phone call. Rio had told her ‘you know things are too heavy right now,’ did that mean she did know? 

Her curiosity had officially peaked, but before she could ask him another question, his eyes grew bigger. They were lit up with excitement, which could only mean that he had a daring query in mind.

“Halloween, when you was sewin’ me up, you said somethin’,” She groaned audibly, so sure that he was talking about her comment about stealing cars in highschool. 

“You was sayin’ that the smell of blood _still_ makes you sick, what’d you mean?” Now his curiosity had peaked, and he had already shared something personal with her. Val owed him something close to home, even if it was something small.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want Rio to get to know her, per say, it was what would happen afterwards. The more he learned about her, the more he seemed to want to know more. And knowing the answer to this specific question would bring more. 

Val had never shared this side of her life with anyone, she had moved to Detroit to get away from her past. Bringing it back up, and thinking of _him_ and the red licorice twists and the blood, would make her spiral. Spiral to a dark place, a place that therapy barely got her out of.

She could simply lie.

But wasn’t that so tiring? Would she spend her entire life lying? The mere idea of never letting anyone in to know her, all of her, made her sad. Maybe...maybe it was time.

“I–,” She paused, it was now or never.

“Ma, you got me on the edge of my seat at this point,” Rio softly laughed.

“I used to be involved with some things that weren’t good for me, _people_ who weren’t good for me. And sometimes it got messy,” She is very interested in the flooring, it scared her to let this small fact out into the world. 

“But after he–I–anyways, I left that behind,” Or so she thought, nothing can stay hidden for long, not even her. 

“That phone call y’got the other night, is it one of the things that weren't good for you?” His voice was soft, his way of begging her to keep the walls down. They were walking on eggshells around each other, which was ironic in a way.

Neither would judge the other on what their past held, so why keep it in? Then again, knowing could put him in danger, he was still set on finding her. She couldn’t pull Rio into that, she couldn’t lose another person.

“Thought so,” He murmured, she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and was shocked to feel a hand on her cheek. Val looked at Rio, and for once, she saw a look of pity wash over him. She didn’t want him to pity her, she was fine. She was absolutely fine before he came into her life with his stupid drugs and stupid gun shot wound. 

Val moved to get up, but Rio’s hand had trailed down to her shoulder, effectively keeping her sat. Though Rio may not say a whole lot, his eyes always said so much. They looked hurt, but also she could tell that he wanted her to share with him.

“C’mon, ma, I won’t judge,” He vaguely motions at his shoulder. And maybe Rio thought that was true, but would knowing it change things? 

“I–, I want to tell you,” She started, not knowing where to go next with it. Would this be what finally makes him leave? A cold wind from the porch brushed her hair forward, lightly dusting his hand. 

“How ‘bout you start with who the blocked call was from,” He suggested, the hand resting on her was comforting. Rio’s thumb slowly circled, pressing gently into the joint of her shoulder. Funny, she should be the one massaging his shoulder. 

“The person who called was someone from my past, an employer–,” She stops to catch a look at Rio, who is giving her his soft brown eyes. His thumb still rubs her shoulder, and for once, she isn’t afraid to share about her life.

“Things ended badly, and I had to get away, so I moved here. I changed my number, I didn’t tell anyone where I was going, and now–,” Val chokes up, him calling could mean a number of things. 

Rio’s hand slips into the one reaching to wipe at her tears, _finally_. Her hand warms in his, and his other comes to rest on top. 

“Ay, ain’t no one getting in here, okay?” He spoke calmly, but with an edge. And maybe he was right, but he didn’t have the whole story, and he may never.

The shrill ring of her phone made the pair jump, their eyes jump to the coffee table to read the caller I.D.

**Maggs**

Val sighed in relief, a slight laughter bubbling out a moment later as he caught her eyes again. 

“Gonna answer her?” His voice returned to the normal volume but he kept her hands in his. 

She had put her friends on the back burner this past week, not wanting to let them find out what Rio does for a living. On the other hand, Val liked this time they were spending together, answering the call would put an end to their “game”.

“No, not this time,” Val silenced her phone with the opposite hand, the one not in Rio’s calloused and firm ones. One glance down was all it took for him to realize he was still holding her, and he slowly let her hand slip out. 

“Okay,” He reached for the drink and took a sip, though what was even the point if it clearly did not affect him whatsoever. 

“My turn?” She asked with a knowing smile, she could ask a personal one since they had really dug into her privacy on the last one. Rio grinned at her as he came to the same conclusion, with a roll of his eyes he nodded.

“Sure,”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as usual, sorry for the wait. you know, life/school/seasonal depression/corona?/etc. enjoy!

Val woke in the middle of the night with a sore throat and the need to use the bathroom. _And this is why you don't do straight shots of vodka all night_ , she thought. She's wearing her favorite long t-shirt that just barely covers her panties.

Her cheeks were still red from the alcohol, she noticed while looking at herself in the mirror. She washed her hands and turned the lights off, before she walked out.

What she didn't expect was to run right into Rio's bare and muscular chest. Before she could stumble, his hands wrapped around her arms, holding her. He was only in his boxer briefs, which didn't leave much to the imagination.

The moon was shining onto them from her bedroom window, Val looked up into Rio's dark inquisitive eyes. He was by definition beautiful––his sharp cheek bones and jawline, the way his eyes crinkle when he laughs, his full bottom lip that he sticks out when she's annoying him.

She thought again how undeniably gorgeous he was in the moonlight, or really any time of the day. Why were they always stuck in these moments, unable to move or breathe or think until they put space between them?

He was already moving his hands away before she subconsciously licked her lips, and his eyes actively tracked her tongue. Rio's hands suddenly moved from her biceps and slid down exceedingly slow until they rested on her hips. Her eyes trailed down to his eagle tattoo, seeing his it bob when he swallowed.

Val's heart started beating so fast she was sure that he could see it. She knew where this would lead if they didn't move, _did she want this to happen?_ His lingering gaze slid down her body and that's when she lost all hope that this wouldn't happen.

She only had to lean forward an inch before Rio closed the rest of the gap between them, his hot lips pressed against hers. Her eyes fluttered shut, eyelashes grazing his tan cheeks. The kiss started slow and soft until Val felt the tip of his tongue slowly skim her bottom lip, and she lost all control.

Val's mouth opened involuntarily to Rio's, and he took no time in sweeping the inside with his hot tongue. Her hands reached around his neck to pull him closer, a soft sigh floating from her mouth to his.

This seemed to spur his next action, Rio quickly pushed her back against the wall of the hallway. Val's hands slipped into his hair and roughly tugged, successfully pulling a deep groan from Rio. His hot hands trailed down to firmly grasp her ass.

She held in her groan until he yanked her into his hips, softly grinding against her. She groaned loudly and Rio's mouth slanted against hers, their breath mixing. He pulled away onto to press scalding kisses up the length of her neck to her ear.

"Been thinking 'bout this since the first time I met you," He said gravelly in her ear, she let out a quiet whine. He ground his hips against hers and met her lips in a searing kiss once more.

He seemed to be sucking the air out of her, she pulled his thick bottom lip into her mouth to softly bite it. Getting Rio to moan into her mouth was a game that she could play all day.

"Mami, you better know what you doin'," His raspy voice rang out against her lips, and at his words she pressed her hips harder against his, feeling him grow against her.

"I've wanted this since you called me bonita," She whispered back at him and reached down to cup him in her hand.

Rio groans loudly at this, a hand goes to the wall right next to her head. He moved against her hand to gain friction and she pulled her hand away. He let out an aggravated groan at her action and suddenly twisted her around until her face was pressed the cold wall. She let out a breath at his doing, his hands started at the top of her thighs until one cupped her center.

This is all that she's wanted for so long, Val couldn't believe that it was finally happening. The smell of Rio being this close was intoxicating, she breathed in more of his musk.

His mouth was pressing a kiss against her ear as he rubbed his hand against her, she whimpered as he went a little faster. She ground against his hand and he immediately pulled away from her.

"Rio," She whimpered, he softly laughed in her ear.

"Don't feel too good, huh?" She said nothing, hoping he would be kinder than she was and put his hand back where she wanted it.

"You're late," He said, grinning. Val scrunched her eyebrows, confused, late for what?

"What?" She said with a slight laugh, cocking her head at him. His hand grasper her shoulder, firmly shaking her body.

"Wake up," Rio's voice sounded warbled as this picture of him pressed against her drifted away.

She groaned as she was shook awake, her eyes slowly slid open to glare at a tan hand—Rio's. Wait, _that was all a dream? All of it?_ It was all real, too real. 

This can't be good. Val looked up at Rio, slightly panicked, she could not be having dreams about him, especially sexual ones!

"Uh-Uh, don' give me that look," He says in his regular raspy morning voice, she would be lying if she thought it did nothing to her lower extremities. She could still smell him from her dream.

"Ugh," Val groaned again and pulled her blanket over her head and heard him set his cereal bowl on her nightstand. She could still feel the remnants of the hand slipping in her panties.

"Mami, you late as hell. Get your ass up, it's almos' nine," He said, half serious while half laughing, and gave her ass a pinch in the process. 

Val shot up at the word _nine_ , the dream was long gone, hadn't she set the alarm for six last night? She picked up her phone and—dead, of course. This made more sense, Rio never woke up before her, though he was a morning person.

"How did I even sleep that long?" He snickered while she climbed out of bed, her feet had barely touched the ground before she felt a wave of nausea. She paused and gave it a second to pass, sure she just needed breakfast.

"You good?" One of his eye brows raised as he gave her a once-over, she nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Val stood again, with one step towards the door she staggered, Rio caught her elbow in a firm grasp.

He set his bowl down yet again, and the same hand came up to press against her forehead. She rolled her eyes at his domestic side showing once again.

"You ain' fine, you're burnin' up," He said with an edge to his voice while his eyes grazed over her features. Rio pushed her gently back towards the bed, and she struggled against him.

"No, Rio, stop. I have to get ready, I'm fine." He grabbed her wrists to stop her from shoving him away, she met his eyes. He was giving her his you-better-take-me-seriously look, and she contemplated stepping on his toes.

"Nah, you got a fever. If you go in today, you gonna get those little kids of yours sick," He replied irritated again, yet his eyes softened as she relaxed in his tight grip. 

Rio was right, her kids were always getting sick, hence her being in this situation in the first place. She hung her head slightly and let him turn her towards the bed.

"G'me one sec'," He sighed, leaving the room to dig through the medicine cabinet for the thermometer he knew she kept in there. He strolled back in less than a minute later turning the device on.

"Open up," She said 'ah' just for effect and Rio stuck the thick needle in her mouth. She watched his face as he concentrated on the task at hand. His brows scrunched as his lips slightly pursed, the thermometer beeped.

"101, you ain' leavin the bed for nothin' today, ma," She groaned lightly at the demand and he pulled her blankets over her. This was an interesting side of Rio that she seldom saw, Val couldn't tell if she preferred him this way.

"But—" She was cut off when he swiftly held her chin in his hand. His other palm pressed into the mattress next to her head, effectively caging her back to the bed. He was close enough for her to be able to see the gold in his eyes.

"Valentina, let someone take care of you." The tension in her ran out at the sheer sweetness of his voice, her cheeks reddened. Vulnerability was something that didn't come naturally to her, considering what she has been through.

"Alright, fine." Val sighed and rested her arms on top of her comforter that Rio was currently tucking in. Exhaustion was pulling her focus as she noticed her eyelids dropping.

"I'll text your boss, get some sleep," He murmured, she nodded. 

She thought briefly how much he notices about her, just another way he probably knows more about her than her closest friends. 

Rio softly brushed his fingers through her hair, letting his hand trail down her cheek. A soft groan left her throat as she finally relaxed. Before she slipped into unconsciousness, she felt a pair of lips leave a searing kiss on her temple.

The next time she woke up she definitely felt worse, she rolled her eyes at the fact that Rio was right. If Val had gone to work, she would have had to leave early for being this sick anyways. As she moved to sit up her eyes traveled to the glass of water to her left and a throat lozenge. Him being sweet was only a little suspicious, maybe this was actually him, though.

She couldn't believe the progress they had made since he had first arrived months ago, sullen and angry all the time. Val wanted to laugh at how quick she broke his hard exterior to find this sweet and apparently caring one underneath. 

Her phone said it was almost noon, and as if on cue, Rio knocked.

"Ay, I made you lunch," He spoke through the closed door.

She smiled at the words as he opened the door, she smiled wider when she saw that he was trying not to show any emotion. 

"Get that smile off your face, I'm bein' nice 'cuz you're sick," She nodded condescendingly at him and scooted back to the headboard.

"What'd you make me, Chef Rio?" It was impossible to stop smiling, it was too funny.

Rio chuckled at this and set down a plate in front of her–chicken noodle soup. And this wasn't soup out of the can, no, this was actually honest-to-god homemade soup. He also set a small trashcan next to her bed, which was self-explanatory. 

She pouted her lip and gazed up at Rio, who was scratching the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable. 

"This is so kind of you," She softly said as he moved to sit next to her on the bed. Val scooted a little to the middle of the mattress to make more room.

"How you feeling, ma? Boss says you got a week off work, use it wisely," Rio's voice was velvety smooth and she practically swooned while he laughed at the use of the adage.

This was a dangerous territory to be in, dreaming of Rio. _Oh, you did a lot more than just dream of him_ , her brain reminded her. And now he was serving her in bed and catering to her every whim? Her face began to warm, she could feel her cheeks inflamed.

"You lookin' like you're warm," The back of his hand pressed gently against her cheek and she swallowed her feelings. If she's not careful this could develop into a crush, which could obviously never happen ever. 

"Yeah, I guess," Technically, yes, she was warm.

Okay, realistically, how far could this go? Rio is literally in a gang for organized crime, and if that wasn't enough, he has a bounty hanging over his head. And Val? Her past seems to be creeping closer and closer, I mean, she's not one-hundred percent sure that the blocked call was _him_ , but she couldn't help but think that it was.

And so, with that in mind, if Rio and Val fell into the subtle pull between them, it was bound for disaster. She didn't think that crime bosses got the happily ever after, not that she was thinking they were going to be together, but it just seemed silly nonetheless. 

She cleared her thoughts and picked up the soup, watching Rio as she took blew on the spoon. He was on his phone, he must have pulled it out when she wandered into her thoughts.

He had a look on his face, once that she has seen rarely, but enough to be able to name it. He was worried, which is normal, she guessed. As she already said, there was a bounty out for him, clearly someone wants him dead. 

This was worse, though, he was nervous too. Val had definitely seen him worried before, but nervous? This was new, and it made _her_ nervous. 

"What's wrong?" She asked him, her voice soft and she took a bite of the soup.

"Hmm," He distractedly responded, not actually hearing what she had said. Val observed him silently, he was reading another text, and had moved on to another nail to bite on.

"Rio," Val raised the volume of her voice, just enough to pull him from whatever was stressing him out. Him being stressed made her worry about her own issues, things that she didn't even want to think about.

"Sorry, you need something'? Another blanket?" She laughs, he had said she felt warm earlier, he really has something on his mind. 

"No, what's going on?" Cutting straight to the chase, if something was wrong, she wanted to be in the know. 

"What'chu mean?" Val sighed and rolled her eyes, setting the soup back on the nightstand. They were going to talk whether he felt like it or not. She pointedly raised her eyebrows at him and crossed her arms.

Rio sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking around the room with his bottom lip between his teeth.

"Got a message from someone," His voice is somber, and this helps clear the sick fog that has been hanging over her. Is it a message from the one who shot him? Is it a message from Dags?

"From who?" She can't keep the worry from her voice, because she is definitely worried.

"Not really sure 'bout that, I've heard word of an old crew from jersey," He sighs, digging his teeth into his already pink lip again.

Val stays quiet, maybe this is the same people that didn't finish the job to take him out. 

"Think it's whoever shot me," Val figured he goes through this all the time, she's sure that since Rio's gang is this powerful, other gangs must try to steal the throne all the time. Why does he seem anxious about it?

"Don't you deal with rival gangs? What do you usually do when someone is after you?" There's no way this is his first time dealing with a rival. His head swivels back around, almost in a snapping manner, for a moment he looked dangerous.

"Ma, that's not the problem. The problem is that they know I'm _here_ ," 

The grim meaning of the statement hit her, this meant that she wasn't safe, neither was he. Would Rio be leaving her then? And why did the mere thought of that pull her heart to pieces?

"So, what happens now?" Val asked, already knowing the answer, yet not wanting him to say it aloud. He can't stay here, that's for sure.

"Gotta leave," His voiced was somber and she wondered if leaving hurt him as well. No, there's no way that he actually cares about her. Rio was attracted to her, of course they were both aware of that by now, but actual feelings? 

Her face fell at the words that were finally out in the open, he would be leaving. Val knew the reality of the situation, she would probably never see him again. It wouldn't be smart to mix them up anyways, this would have never worked in the long run.

"Both of us," Her head shot up, did he say both of them?

"Excuse me?" 

"Y'heard me, if I'm not safe what makes you think you safe?" He questioned her like an adult would a child, which tugged another eye-roll from Val. 

He's treating her like she doesn't understand, like she couldn't _possibly_ understand, which frankly, was annoying.

"Don't talk to me like I'm stupid," The aggravation was apparent, which was her intention. Her eyebrow raised as she watched him turn from arrogant to irritated.

"Then don't act stupid," He raised from the bed as if the conversation was over between the two of them. Rio went for the door, evidently done.

"How would me following you be any safer? You said it yourself, they're after _you_ not me. Why should I go too?" Her eyebrow raised in defiance, she could take care of herself, and she had been taking care of herself for years. 

She was fine before Rio came into her life, and she realized then that she would be perfectly fine without him just as well.

"You're not my boyfriend, and you're not in charge of me. It's been just me for along time, I don't need you to protect me. I'm not the one with a wanted sign,"

Rio turned to face her, and she let her eyebrow drop in response to the way his eyes blazed. She could say that she unlocked the caring side of him all day long, but at the end of the day, he was a dangerous criminal. And Val had just pissed him off.

"Listen here, Valentina, you think you know what you're talking about? You think jus' cuz I been staying here that you know the ins and outs of the business?" His voice grew stronger with every word and step that he made towards her, until he was right at her side looking down in her eyes.

She gulped, she wasn't scared of him normally, but this side of him? Unpredictable. Even though it was a serious time, and she definitely shouldn't be thinking of her incredibly dumb dream last night, hearing him use her full name made her feel warm.

"If they know I'm here, they know you're here too. You think it's over once I leave?"

Val says nothing, not because she doesn't have the words to speak, but because his eyes are daring her to say something. _Anything_. 

"Said it once before–you ain' no boss, so stop actin like you are." The gravely undertone of his voice settled the argument.

Her insides flamed at his words, but she knew better than to fight him when he was acting like this. Last time she had challenged the bossed up Rio she earned an arm to the neck.

But she just couldn't help herself, sick or not, Rio can't talk to her like that. 

_"Sei uno stronzo,"_ She more so mumbled to herself. Yes, she wanted to stand against Rio, but her anger got ahead of Val sometimes. So maybe she'll just stick to curse words under her breath

"I'm not the only asshole in the room, _querida_ ," His honey pot voice came out of the woodworks to say that, with a bite to it. The fact that her stomach turns at _darling_ is unhealthy. 

She wants to scream at him, yell, anything really. But before Val can say anything, the sudden urge to vomit overwhelms her. Her expression twists in disgust as her stomach turns–not in a good way–Rio scoffs.

"Makin' faces at me doesn't change nothin', pack it up," He says with a straight face, taking a few steps back and turning for the door.

He doesn't reach it before Val pukes in the trashcan that Rio had brought in earlier, thankfully.

"Fuck, Valentina, 'm sorry," He rushed over to her, immediately grabbing her hair back as she reached for the trashcan again. 

Rio's hand slipped around to her back, rubbing small soft circles as she said bye to the chicken noodle soup. 

"You're right, I'm an asshole," He murmured and she managed a laugh. He soon joined in, wiping around her mouth with a napkin. 

His eyes were kind again, and _querida_ rolls through her head again, though he meant it in a sarcastic manner. 

After dry heaving a considerable amount of times, Val leans back in bed. She's exhausted and is sure her face reflects that. A cold shiver rolls up her spine and she reaches for the comforter. 

"I got you, ma," Rio grabs the blanket and begins to tuck her in. How the hell can he be the biggest asshole and sweetheart within the hour? 

"You're less of a _strozo_ ," This tore a bigger than usual laugh from him, pulling a bigger than usual smile from Val.

"Rest up, I'll pack a bag," His fingers bushed the hair from her forehead, the cold metal of the rings was a nice contrast to the red of her face. 

_"Querida,"_ Rio's voice whispered in her ear before she drifted off once again. 


End file.
